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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551600">Silence is True Wisdom's Best Reply</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/etcetera_kit/pseuds/etcetera_kit'>etcetera_kit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Super Sentai Series, 宇宙戦隊キュウレンジャー | Uchu Sentai Kyuranger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Captivity, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Nightmares, Rescue Missions, Smut</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:21:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>30,992</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551600</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/etcetera_kit/pseuds/etcetera_kit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stinger hated the Space Dragon Palace with every fiber of his being. The only reason he would even set foot in that place was to find the owners of the Hebitsukai and Tenbin Kyutamas, which Raptor tracked there. So he went.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Naga Ray/Stinger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Space Dragon Palace</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As you can see, I am on another "Stinger rescues Naga" kick, this time with a new twist! I am hoping multi-chapter for this. Can't say how many right now, but perhaps weekly updates?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>1/Space Dragon Palace</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The Space Dragon Palace was opulent and luxurious and over-the-top and pretentious and disgusting and horrifying, and Stinger hated the place with every fiber of his being.<br/>
<br/>
<em>“Your cover with Jark Matter isn’t blown. They still think you’re the Kyuranger that defected. We can use that to our advantage! You know we haven’t found all the other Kyutama owners yet. Pyxis Kyutama got us all the Change Kyutamas and now we’re slowly narrowing the owners. Champ is off trying to track down Shishi. Hammie and Spada are on a mission to find Ookami. Hebitsukai and Tenbin are in the same place—the Space Dragon Palace. You make the most sense to infiltrate, figure out who they are and report back so we can extract them!”<br/>
<br/>
</em>He did not want to admit that Raptor was right. Stinger found his own Change Kyutama by accident. He’d fled his home planet after a series of events he deliberately pushed from his mind. Trailing his brother, now a Jark Matter assassin, he’d hopped from system to system, following wisps of leads, murmurs about prominent people struck down by a scorpion tail. He’d been in a bazaar in the Carina System. A fight broke out amongst the locals and Jark Matter patrols. Through the chaos, he found himself in a junk dealer’s shop. A little orange globe with the Scorpius System symbol etched into the glass was sitting on a shelf. He’d paid a few pongi. Owner said the thing was a piece of junk. But Stinger felt attached to the globe, didn’t let the tiny thing out of his sight. Then the Commander and Raptor found him, explained what the globe was, and what that meant he was.<br/>
<br/>
Second of the nine legendary saviors.<br/>
<br/>
Sasori Orange, owner of the Sasori Change Kyutama, the Scorpion Warrior.<br/>
<br/>
Some trick of fate has brought his to him, his own older brother a traitor to his family, his tribe and their constellation system.<br/>
<br/>
Backed by Rebellion, Commander Sho Ronpo and Raptor, an android, were tasked with identifying the nine saviors. Stinger had been the first, and their very first mission had been to find the Pyxis Kyutama, the one that would allow them to identify all the others. And they had. Oushi had already been owned by a bull android named Champ, whose, in another cruel twist of fate, creator had been murdered by Stinger’s brother. Chameleon belonged to Hammie, who was barely eighteen and a member of a shinobi clan from the Chameleon System. A chef from the Dorado System named Spada had the Kaijiki Kyutama. That left five to find and account for, and they did. Pyxis led them. Shishi, Ookami, Tenbin, Hebitsukai, Washi.<br/>
<br/>
Washi had been easy—once they found the Kyutama, they learned quickly Raptor was the owner. She’d been thrilled, her dream of being a hero coming true, and that leant her more spirit to find the other four owners. That’s where Champ, Hammie and Spada were. Finding the owners of Shishi and Ookami. That was why Stinger was in this wretched place. Two of them were here. He hoped that they were staff or some locals conscripted into being Jark Matter guards. He hoped they weren’t the slaves here, used for anything and everything the sick clientele wanted.<br/>
<br/>
Raptor took him through the two systems. He was looking for an organic humanoid from the Ophiuchus System, distinctive silver hair and eyes, would look like everyone else from the system and be showing little or no emotion. (The Ophiuchus System was closed-borders and had given up emotions centuries ago, living in a gray, emotionless sort of utopia. No conflict, everyone knew their place. Very few ever left. The ones that did were unique. Like their Kyuranger.) The other would be a mechanical lifeform from the Tenbin System. Easy enough to mistake for an android, but probably with more personality. The Tenbin mechanicals lived for centuries and spent their time pursuing prosperity and justice. They had strict laws and their lives were about making a fortune and then “retiring.” Unlike the Ophiuchus, they frequently left home in pursuit of lucrative investments.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger stepped out of the transport.<br/>
<br/>
And a groveling butler was immediately in front of him.<br/>
<br/>
“Stinger-sama,” he simpered, bowing low. “You honor us with your presence! Allow me to show you to our lounge where one of our representatives will help design the perfect evening for you!”<br/>
<br/>
So that was how they described what they did? Stinger kept his face neutral and simply gave a curt nod, following the butler up the front stairs and into the massive foyer. If Stinger had learned anything in his travels, he knew that truly wealthy people—old money, generations—whispered with their wealth. They were not flashy or ostentatious, but tasteful, minimalist, savoring one piece they loved over a collection. If wealth whispered, money shouted. And this foyer was <em>screaming</em> at him. Stinger came from a desert planet, grew up in tents and cooking over a fire. He knew nothing about money or wealth, and even he knew this place was all wrong. Mismatched, yet clearly expensive, art pieces on the walls and around the room. Gaudy gold wallpaper, gigantic chandeliers buckling under their own weight, marble floors, expensive wooden furniture, rugs that were supposed to luxurious but looked terrible.<br/>
<br/>
Several high-ranking Jark Matter officials were hanging around the lobby, perched on chairs or couches, clearly waiting for others. A maid in a traditional black and white uniform served them drinks. A large front desk was there, but the butler led him past the desk and into a much quieter, dimmer room off the foyer. He blinked as his eyes adjusted and realized this must be a room used for important people on their first visit. Funny how they thought he was important.<br/>
<br/>
“Please wait here, Stinger-sama. Our representative will be here soon. Can I have one of the girls bring you a drink while you wait?”<br/>
<br/>
“Double firewhiskey,” he replied.<br/>
<br/>
“Right away.” And the butler slunk out of the room.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger slipped off his outer cloak, glancing around the room. The one was tastefully coordinated in deep wood tones. The couches looked uncomfortable and stylish, but Stinger knew that was wrong the moment he sat down. These were like a cloud and he had no idea how. He kept his Seiza Blaster on and prominent. His whole allure was that he stole equipment from Rebellion and defected. Might as well show off what the rumors said.<br/>
<br/>
No more than three minutes later, the maid showed up with his drink and a tall, slender woman in a black evening gown, carrying a datapad, entered. The maid set the drink on the coffee table in front of him, bowed low and backed out of the room. The woman carried herself with dignity and poise. She was clearly used to this work and her impassive face spoke volumes to the fact that she had seen all kinds of requests and very little would shock her.<br/>
<br/>
“Stinger-sama,” she said, bowing low. He nodded at her. She gestured to a chair adjacent to the couch. “Might I sit?” He made a ‘help yourself’ gesture.<br/>
<br/>
She arranged herself gracefully, crossing her legs to take advantage of the slit in her dress. She tapped the datapad awake and turned her wide eyes to him, practiced in giving her current client her undivided attention. “This is your first visit with us?”<br/>
<br/>
They both knew that to be true, but she still phrased like a question. “Yes,” he said simply.<br/>
<br/>
“Welcome,” was her response. “My name is Yuki. I am here to make sure the evening goes according to your plans and… tastes.”<br/>
<br/>
“Of course.”<br/>
<br/>
“Before we begin, one small formality. Might I get your thumbprint for payment method?”<br/>
<br/>
She offered him the datapad and he obliged her with a thumbprint. Raptor had set this up so he looked like he had several very expansive bank accounts in Jark Matter stronghold places like the Southern Cross System. His real bank account was pitiful and would have had him thrown out of his place in an instant.<br/>
<br/>
“Excellent,” was her brief response upon glancing at his resources. “Now, what kind of evening are looking for?”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger had practiced this line. “I’m just looking for a quiet evening with someone who won’t cause a fuss.”<br/>
<br/>
“I have a suite with a large tub, king-sized bed, full dining area. I also have a suite equipped with a full playroom.”<br/>
<br/>
He knew <em>exactly</em> what that meant. “When I say quiet, I mean it,” he responded. Raptor had done some research and said this place did whatever their clients wanted, even if that was just someone to talk to and cuddle—no sex in those scenarios. This stupid dance was meant to get him into an evening like that. Yuki probably saw more Jark Matter officials wanting that than any of the officials would admit to.<br/>
<br/>
“The former with full dinner service it is.” She tapped the datapad. “Any preferences for a meal?”<br/>
<br/>
There was no guarantee he’d actually find their Ophiuchus candidate tonight, but he remembered a fact Raptor told him and said, “I’m vegetarian.” He wasn’t. Scorpionfolk needed more protein than a normal organic to sustain their venom. He supposed that could be done with a vegetarian diet, but he didn’t really know how. And one night wouldn’t hurt him. “Other than that, surprise me.”<br/>
<br/>
“We have top chefs here. You will not be disappointed.” She tapped the datapad and then turned the screen towards him. “I have a few options here for company. Let me know if none of these look interesting and I will expand my search.”<br/>
<br/>
He had to fight to keep his face neutral and impassive as he swiped through a collection of photos. He knew each and every one of these ‘companions’ was a slave, no matter how much the Space Dragon Palace talked about them being independent contractors. They’d all been taken from their home planets in Jark Matter raids and the most attractive were sent here. And a steady supply was always needed. He didn’t imagine they lived for very long in a place like this. The photos showed both men and women, all clothed, but wearing drapey, revealing garments, meant to fuel fantasies. He froze when he flipped to one picture.<br/>
<br/>
Silver hair, silver eyes… looked exactly like the stock photos Raptor showed him. <em>Ophiuchus</em>.<br/>
<br/>
“Ah, very good, sir,” Yuki said. “You have an excellent eye. He’s the only Ophiuchus one we’ve been able to procure. Very popular, very quiet. He’s free this evening. You’ll enjoy his company.”<br/>
<br/>
Without thinking, Stinger snapped, “Make sure he’s available every time I am here.”<br/>
<br/>
“There’s a premium—”<br/>
<br/>
“Cost is no object. Make it happen.”<br/>
<br/>
“Absolutely, sir.” Yuki tapped a few more things and then stood up. She snapped and a maid appeared, almost from nowhere. “Hanna here will show you to your room. Dinner and your companion will follow in a few minutes. Make yourself comfortable and remember, anything you want, simply use the datapad in your room.”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger nodded, grabbed his cloak, and began to follow the maid out.<br/>
<br/>
He turned and asked, “What’s his name?”<br/>
<br/>
“Naga.”<br/>
<br/>
------------------<br/>
<br/>
Stinger didn’t know why he was relieved that the suite was nothing like the lobby, but he was. The room was done up in modern, minimalist furniture, in white and neutral colors. The one thing he would give this place was that their guaranteed their client absolute privacy, not a single camera or bug or tracking device to be found in the entire suite. Which he scanned immediately once the maid left. She’d even brought his drink from the foyer, which he sat on the coffee table, still untouched.<br/>
<br/>
No one listening, he opened a scrambled and secure channel to Raptor.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m in,” he said simply.<br/>
<br/>
“Great, they are charging you a fortune for this.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know.” His heart had been in his stomach since seeing that picture. “Look, Raptor, I think our Ophiuchus Kyuranger is one of the…” he swallowed the bile in his throat, “… independent contractors here.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh no!”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll confirm once he’s in my room—”<br/>
<br/>
“He’s coming to your room?”<br/>
<br/>
“I just saw Ophiuchus and didn’t think.”<br/>
<br/>
“No, no, that’s probably a good thing. You can talk to him.” He could hear Raptor tapping away in the background. “I’ll need you to do a scan of him. Confirm he’s the Ophiuchus Kyuranger, which he likely is, and then get a full body scan. You won’t be able to get him out tonight. The trackers they put all over those poor people are intense. We’ll have to analyze it to get him out safely.”<br/>
<br/>
“I know.”<br/>
<br/>
“A lot of people still believe the Kyurangers are a myth, and he might too, especially since he’s from the Ophiuchus System. You might not even tell him about himself tonight. Just go slowly and be careful and go with your gut.”<br/>
<br/>
“I will, Raptor.”<br/>
<br/>
“Do they feed them? Maybe you could give him your dinner?"<br/>
<br/>
“I ordered two dinners. Vegetarian.”<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, you remembered my lesson!”<br/>
<br/>
“I was paying attention.”<br/>
<br/>
Raptor abruptly stopped tapping. “Stinger?” she asked, voice soft.<br/>
<br/>
“Yeah, Raptor?”<br/>
<br/>
“Are <em>you</em> okay?”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m fine.”<br/>
<br/>
Raptor made a frustrated noise. “You know what I mean. I know you really didn’t want to go to that place and I know how you feel about it, and you know he’s going to reveal they’ve done terrible, awful things to him. It’s a lot. I want you to be okay too.”<br/>
<br/>
“I will.” Stinger paused and added, “Hey, Raptor?”<br/>
<br/>
“What?”<br/>
<br/>
“I expect a chocolate milkshake and a lot of french fries when I get back.”<br/>
<br/>
Raptor laughed. “Whatever you want. You know Spada will be back by then and he’ll make you whatever you want. He likes a challenge.”<br/>
<br/>
They said their goodbyes and ended the call.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger sighed, looking around the room. Raptor was right. He wasn’t liberating anyone from this place tonight, but he could confirm their identities and at least try to make friends. He pushed out another harsh breath. Right, make friends. He was the worst in the world when trying to make friends. He had a hard time getting people to trust him, probably because he trusted almost no one outside of Raptor. Couldn’t even really say that he truly trusted his fellow Kyurangers. He still held them at arm’s length, evaluating them and their motivations.<br/>
<br/>
He glanced out the window of the room. Fantastic view of the gardens below.<br/>
<br/>
Unbidden, the old Kyuranger rhyme from his childhood came to mind.<br/>
<br/>
<em>When all is lost and evil reigns,<br/>
</em><em>That’s when the nine legendary saviors appear.<br/>
</em><em>The mighty Lion, roaring loud.<br/>
</em><em>The Scorpion warrior, venom primed.<br/>
</em><em>The nocturnal Wolf, claws sweeping.<br/>
</em><em>The Scales of justice, aim true.<br/>
</em><em>The champion Ox, strength unmatched.<br/>
</em><em>The silent Snake, eyes untold.<br/>
</em><em>The regal Chamelon, ever changing.<br/>
</em><em>The swift Aquila, never caught.<br/>
</em><em>And reliable Dorado, always true.<br/>
<br/>
</em>Didn’t even actually rhyme. Just a silly poem. He didn’t really think any was true. There were a few more verses and he didn’t really remember them, although a little scorpling from his tribe probably knew them all by heart.<br/>
<br/>
“Stinger-sama?”<br/>
<br/>
He nearly jumped out of his skin at the soft voice, so lost in thought about childhood dreams. He turned from the window. Naga. He’d entered the room silently. He was taller than Stinger expected, about his own height. Slender almost to the point of being underweight. Skin pale and smooth, with a faint pattern of snake scales, no body hair to be seen. His silver hair was longish and fell into his eyes a bit. Didn’t disguise those silver eyes at all. He was wearing loose navy blue pants, and a long matching open-front top, sleeveless and leaving most of his chest bare. Stinger could see how those clothes would be appealing to the <em>clientele</em> around here.<br/>
<br/>
“Just Stinger,” he corrected. “No need for formalities.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga ducked his head. “Of course.”<br/>
<br/>
“Naga, right?” A quick nod. Stinger quickly tapped his Seiza Blaster, just to confirm what he already knew to be true and… yes, Naga was Hebitsukai Silver. Stinger swore a lot internally.<br/>
<br/>
Naga’s expression was neutral and smooth when he asked softly, “First time here?”<br/>
<br/>
“Does it show?”<br/>
<br/>
The shrug was almost imperceptible. “Dinner should be here in a moment,” Naga continued. “Can I refill your drink?”<br/>
<br/>
Since Stinger hadn’t taken one sip of the firewhiskey in the first place, <em>that</em> question almost made him laugh. He didn’t know why, but he said, “You know, I actually don’t even like firewhiskey.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga blinked, the slightest furrow coming to his brow. If Stinger had blinked, he would have missed the expression. “Why did you order it?”<br/>
<br/>
“It sounds cool.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga blinked again, just the slightest off kilter, not sure what to think of Stinger. He was sure these encounters never started like this. “There’s a bar replicator in every suite,” Naga finally said. “You can have whatever you would like to drink.”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger almost said a chocolate milkshake, but that was a drink back on the ship, when he had actually finished this mission and gotten Naga and their Tenbin Kyuranger back safely. He didn’t want alcohol or anything too sweet, but then he remembered a drink he had at a carnival on planet Jigama once in his travels. “Lemonade?” he asked.<br/>
<br/>
Naga nodded and walked smoothly to the bar replicator near the dining area. “Get yourself whatever you want,” he added.<br/>
<br/>
<em>That</em> made Naga pause. “I’m fine with water.”<br/>
<br/>
“You’ve never wanted to try anything?”<br/>
<br/>
“No.” And from the way Naga’s shoulders tensed briefly, Stinger knew that was a contentious subject, even if Naga was not quite aware of his own feelings. Stinger couldn’t imagine—well, he <em>could</em> imagine some of the things that Naga had been through. And that Yuki woman said Naga was popular, which means the gods only knew was sick things had happened to him. The very least of which seemed to be tempt him with something good to eat or drink, only to remove that small piece of comfort. Stinger was bad at controlling and expressing his own emotions, bad at comforting other people, but he wanted to just hug Naga, tell him everything would be all right and he was never letting him go.<br/>
<br/>
But they had to plan this carefully. Wait.<br/>
<br/>
He hated waiting.<br/>
<br/>
Naga turned from the bar replicator with the drink just as the room service chime went off. Stinger allowed the door to open and watched Naga, rather than the maid that wheeled the dinner into the room on a cart. Naga held the tall glass carefully, walking in measured steps, cautious not to spill any of the beverage. When he reached the table and set the glass down, Stinger could see tension leave his body. That was the sign of someone who performed <em>something</em> right and knew nothing bad would happen.<br/>
<br/>
The maid was gone in a moment and both dinner plates were on the table.<br/>
<br/>
Whatever this food was, the smell was fantastic.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger gestured to the table. “Sit down. Eat.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga hesitated ever so slightly. “I’m okay,” he said softly, almost a whisper. “I’m not hungry.”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger doubted that. Naga eyed the food like someone who hadn’t eaten properly in a long time.<br/>
<br/>
“There’s a cooler,” Stinger said conversationally, sitting down. Naga perched in the chair in front of the other plate. An odd movement, Stinger thought at first, but realized Naga was positioning himself to get up and move in a hurry. His heart broke a little when he realized what <em>that</em> meant. “You can eat later if you want to.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you.”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger’s stomach was in knots, so he wasn’t going to be able to eat much of this food either. Some kind of vegetables in pasta. They hadn’t been kidding about the top chefs in this place. One bite of this almost put Spada’s cooking to shame. So light and buttery, with just enough seasoning, vegetables tart and crisp, no hint of sogginess.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re from the Ophiuchus System?” Stinger asked, trying desperately to start a conversation.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” was the whispered response.<br/>
<br/>
“How’d you get out here?” he gestured vaguely. Naga blinked and looked away. Had he been abducted? Shit. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he added quickly.<br/>
<br/>
“No,” Naga replied with a long breath. His silver eyes took in Stinger. “No one has ever asked me that before.”<br/>
<br/>
“What do other people talk about?”<br/>
<br/>
“We don’t usually… talk.” Naga was staring at him with an intensity that made Stinger want to squirm away, like all the dark places were coming to light and no secrets were sacred. He tried to meet that gaze, not shy away. Naga’s eyes were silver, but he had the tiniest flecks of green and hazel around his pupils, like a forest at twilight. “You’re not like the others, are you?”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger shrugged. “My brother is a Jark Matter assassin.” The truth, but not the whole truth.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re not Jark Matter.”<br/>
<br/>
“You don’t know that.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga blinked just a little. “I do.” He exhaled harshly. “We get all types of people here. Some are just wealthy, not associated with Jark Matter. But you…” Naga seemed to analyze him for a moment. “You don’t really want to be here.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’m from a limited-resources desert planet. This kind of stuff doesn’t suit me.”<br/>
<br/>
“Why are you here?”<br/>
<br/>
“You.” The word slipped out before Stinger could stop himself. Naga reeled back just the slightest, clearly not expecting that answer. He wouldn’t ask a follow question, so Stinger just added, “You don’t seem the type to be in a place like this.”<br/>
<br/>
That tiny shrug came back. “I was given a choice—this or a work camp.” What he didn’t offer, but Stinger knew well enough was that Naga would likely already be dead if he’d chosen the work camp.<br/>
<br/>
“What’d you do?”<br/>
<br/>
“Stole from one too many governors.”<br/>
<br/>
“Anything good?”<br/>
<br/>
“Jewels, antiquities, precious metals, lots of pongi.” Another shrug. “Figuring out how to get those things… it was like a puzzle. I like puzzles.” Naga glanced down at the table and then back to Stinger. “You asked me how I got out here?”<br/>
<br/>
“Yes,” he replied softly.<br/>
<br/>
"I was always interested in worlds with emotions, wanted to travel to them, but we are not allowed to leave the Ophiuchus System. One night a mechanical lifeform broke into my city, stole some very valuable and precious items. I worked security and was able to intercept him before the other guards did. I showed him how to leave the system and asked he take me with him.”</p><p>Holy shit… what… Naga… Stinger tripped over that brief story multiple times in his head. If there had ever been any doubt, that story sealed for Stinger that Naga was Hebitsukai Silver. He literally left his home system with a <em>thief</em> and then became one himself. And all that stealing lead to Jark Matter capturing him and sentencing him to a place like this.<br/>
<br/>
“That’s incredible,” was Stinger’s awed reply.<br/>
<br/>
“Now I’m here.”<br/>
<br/>
The finality in that sentence was heart-wrenching to hear.<br/>
<br/>
“What about the mechanical?” Stinger forced himself to ask, changing the subject slightly. He still had to figure out who Tenbin Gold was, but he was putting a lot of money on Naga’s thief buddy.<br/>
<br/>
“Balance,” Naga whispered, the slightest of smiles coming across his face. “He’s here. Works in the engineering bays. No use for him up here.” That smooth, neutral voice got the slightest waver when he said, “It’s the best assignment for him. No one will…”<br/>
<br/>
… <em>hurt him</em>.<br/>
<br/>
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Stinger found himself saying.<br/>
<br/>
Naga didn’t respond or react, other than to make one thing very clear with his tense body language—he’d been promised that before and that hadn’t happened.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger pushed the plate away, unable to choke down anymore. He stood up and grabbed both plates, taking them quickly to store them in the cooler. Naga stood up only a second later, clearly believing he needed to be doing something now that Stinger was moving. He wanted to try to convince Naga to eat later.<br/>
<br/>
“Is it not good?” Naga asked, note of concern creeping into his voice. “You can order something different if you like.”<br/>
<br/>
“No. It’s very good. I’m just not too hungry right now and I don’t want to eat alone.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga blinked, before saying softly, “It’s not a good idea for me to eat too much before—”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger held up a hand to stop that statement. “We’ll eat the food later.” He glanced around the room. “Is there a screen in here? Maybe we can watch a movie or something.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga quickly moved across the room and hit a button on the coffee table. A thin glass screen rose from one side of the coffee table. Stinger settled on the couch, and Naga scurried to join him, sitting at one end, not too close, trying to get a read on what Stinger wanted. He itched to tell him about being a Kyuranger and getting out of here, but he had a feeling that Naga wouldn’t believe him. He chose a random old movie, made sometime before he was born.<br/>
<br/>
He tried to relax on the couch, but that was hard as he realized Naga was tense, twitchy, clearly expecting something to go wrong at a moment’s notice. Stinger forced himself to watch the film, trying to keep an eye on Naga in peripheral. Naga’s attention was moving quickly between the movie and Stinger, trying desperately to evaluate the situation. The more the movie went on and the more Stinger paid attention to that, the incrementally more relaxed Naga got, eventually sinking into the incredibly soft couch cushions, tucking his feet underneath him and curling into the corner of the couch. Stinger’s only move was to grab the throw blanket from the nearby chair and cover Naga with that when he shivered a little when the climate controls blasted cool air. Naga jumped at the blanket, but soon snuggled into the warmth. (Raptor had said the Ophiuchus System was warmer than some others, and the people’s body temperature was lower, meaning they got cold quickly.)<br/>
<br/>
The movie was eventually over and Naga was dozing in the corner of the couch.<br/>
<br/>
“Naga?” Stinger asked softly.<br/>
<br/>
“Hmmm?”<br/>
<br/>
“You ready to eat dinner?”<br/>
<br/>
Naga shook himself completely awake and looked at Stinger. “I’m not hungry,” was the reply, punctuated by his stomach growling.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger smiled. “Come on. I’ll reheat the food.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga scrambled to his feet, following Stinger to the cooler. “You don’t have to!” he protested. “I can handle that. I <em>should</em>—”<br/>
<br/>
“Naga, it’s fine. I’ve got this. And I want to do this.” He nodded towards the bar replicator. “Just get us something to drink and sit at the table.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga nodded in submission and hurried over to the replicator. Stinger took the plates out of the cooler and put them in the reheater. This one was way more advanced than the one on their ship. Automatically stopped when the food was evenly heated. Theirs was old and burned things. Stinger brought the warm food to the table, noticing Naga had done exactly as he asked, brought two drinks of what appeared to be sparkling water and sat down at the table. He set the plates down.<br/>
<br/>
"Do you want something different?” Naga asked, note of anxiety in his voice.<br/>
<br/>
“This is perfect.” Stinger picked up his fork and noticed Naga’s hesitation. “Please eat,” he urged Naga. “I just want to sleep after this, and I’ll sleep better knowing you ate something.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga’s indecision punched Stinger in the gut. He looked so lost and unsure, but certain that eating would bring about something bad. But the hours already spent together seemed to have calmed him down some, and Stinger hadn’t so much as tried to touch him… Naga’s hunger finally won over all his misgivings and he picked up his fork, taking a bite of the food. His eyes widened with pleasure upon tasting the food and he quickly took another bite.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger felt himself smile at how quickly Naga was eating. “It’s vegetarian,” he said conversationally, eating his own food, stomach a little more settled.<br/>
<br/>
Those gray eyes glanced up at him. “Really?” was the tiny question.<br/>
<br/>
“Really,” he confirmed.<br/>
<br/>
All the food was gone in a really short amount of time. Stinger had some of his left and offered the rest to Naga, who eagerly finished the pasta. He seemed to have decided to trust Stinger for now and, hunger satiated, he looked exhausted. Naga sipped at the water, clearly trying to stay alert and failing miserably as he nodded off.<br/>
<br/>
“Come on,” Stinger said, standing up. “Bed.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga opened his eyes and nodded. He got up and followed Stinger to the bed, pulling down the covers. Stinger gestured for him to get in the bed. Naga blinked, frowning ever so slightly as he looked between Stinger and the bed. “You want me to sleep here?” he asked, voice small.<br/>
<br/>
“Yes.”<br/>
<br/>
“Where will you…”<br/>
<br/>
“The couch, maybe. Whatever makes you comfortable.”<br/>
<br/>
The slight tilt of Naga’s head said that he’d never encountered someone here who cared about his comfort before. He reached out and grasped Stinger’s wrist in a feather-light touch. “I think I’d like you to stay with me, please.”<br/>
<br/>
The bed was huge and definitely looked comfortable. Naga was obviously torn between thinking this all might be a ruse and his want to trust Stinger. And by all the gods, Stinger was not going to do anything to betray that trust.<br/>
<br/>
Finally, Naga crawled into the bed, settling under the covers.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger shed his boots, shirt and pants, stripping down to his shorts and undershirt. Decent enough to not frighten Naga, but comfortable enough he might be able to sleep for a bit. Not that Stinger was planning on sleeping in this place. Three hours or less. He needed to be vigilant and be on guard. He could sleep back on the ship, and then help Raptor figure out how they were getting Naga out of this place. He came over to the bed, slipping into the other side.<br/>
<br/>
He noticed how Naga scooted just a little closer.<br/>
<br/>
“Go to sleep,” Stinger said softly.<br/>
<br/>
Naga’s eyes were closed and he murmured against the pillow, “You really are different.”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger began to sing softly, feeling Naga’s breathing even out quickly. He continued singing and grabbed the datapad on the nightstand. He idly perused the breakfast options, trying to decide what Naga might like. He seemed to really enjoy the vegetable pasta, so he landed on an egg white vegetable omelet, with a side of tofu sausage and fruit.<br/>
<br/>
Naga looked so close to the end of his rope at this place…<br/>
<br/>
Three days. No more than three days and Stinger was coming back. He didn’t care if he had to blast his way out, he was not leaving Naga here any longer.<br/>
<br/>
------------------<br/>
<br/>
The night had been long and thankfully quiet. Naga slept deeply, only stirring briefly to move close to Stinger, snuggled up against his side. Stinger ended up putting an arm around him, holding him close. He’d ordered breakfast to arrive at eight and was shocked that, in spite of the relatively early time they went to bed, Naga slept straight until Stinger gently shook him awake.<br/>
<br/>
“Naga,” he said softly. “Breakfast is almost here.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga inhaled sharply and ran a hand over his eyes. He looked up at Stinger and then realized they were currently snuggling. He pulled away a little. “I’m sorry,” he said.<br/>
<br/>
“Don’t be. I think you needed the rest.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga quickly scrambled out of bed. His silver hair was incredibly silky and fell into place, no comb or brushing or even bedhead, apparently. His clothing was only slightly wrinkled, and Stinger didn’t miss how he shivered once he was out of bed. “Do you want me to get you some coffee? Or juice?”<br/>
<br/>
Stinger smiled a little. “I’ll get it.” He nodded towards the bathroom. “Go brush your teeth. Wake up a little bit first.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga complied without arguing.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger stretched and got out of bed, pulling his clothes back on. Another fact Raptor gave him about the Ophiuchus System was that they didn’t drink coffee—in fact, caffeine was not naturally occurring, so even their teas were all caffeine-free. Their drinks seemed to be water, juice or teas. Stinger went over to the bar replicator and made himself a black coffee (he’d only slept for about two hours) and selected an herbal tea for Naga. He wondered idly if Naga would want sugar or honey for his tea, and decided to get a small side of honey just in case. He set the drinks on the table and sat down, just as a maid arrived with the breakfast.<br/>
<br/>
She was gone when Naga came out of the bathroom. Food and rest seemed to have done wonders for him, because he seemed steadier, a little less anxious. He came over to the table and sat down next to Stinger.<br/>
<br/>
"I got you a vegetable omelet,” Stinger said. “And some tea. Orange raspberry.”<br/>
<br/>
The ghost of a smile came over Naga’s face. “Thank you.”<br/>
<br/>
“And some honey in case you wanted it.”<br/>
<br/>
Now those eyes lit up with something close to delight. Naga took the honey and very carefully drizzled a little bit into his tea. He stirred the drink and then took a sip. He closed his eyes for just a moment, savoring the taste.<br/>
<br/>
“Good?” Stinger asked.<br/>
<br/>
He nodded.<br/>
<br/>
“Let’s eat.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga didn’t protest that he wasn’t hungry or even really hesitate about eating his food this time. He picked up his fork and dug into the omelet, not eating quite as quickly as he did last night, but still fast enough like he was afraid all the food was going to disappear.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger ate his food quickly, more watching Naga than anything else. He had a couple of unfinished craft projects back on the ship. None of the others knew he could knit and sew—a skill all scorpionfolk had—and he refused to work on those projects in front of the others. But Naga had gone without simple comforts for so long… he had some soft gray yarn, enough to make Naga a cardigan, especially since he always seemed cold. And Stinger would never tell anyone about his teddy bear that he still slept with from time to time, when he felt especially vulnerable. Maybe Naga would like a plush animal too? He had some scrap fabric and stuffing. He could throw together a decent teddy bear and sweater before his timeline to get back here. He was fast.<br/>
<br/>
Too close to nine. That’s when his transport was arriving.<br/>
<br/>
They finished eating and Stinger stood up. Naga scrambled to his feet as well.<br/>
<br/>
“I have to go,” he said. “But I’ll be back very soon.”<br/>
<br/>
Naga nodded, those gray eyes staring into him for a moment. Then Naga did something that surprised him. He leaned forward and quickly kissed his cheek.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger smiled. “What was that for?”<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you,” Naga said softly. “Really.”<br/>
<br/>
He reached out and squeezed Naga’s hand. “Soon. I promise.”<br/>
<br/>
He did not want to leave Naga here. Didn’t want to leave at all. But trying to escape with Naga was not going to work right now. He forced himself to leave the room and walk down to the foyer.<br/>
<br/>
Which was buzzing with people and butlers and everyone apparently leaving for the day.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger stepped outside where the air was cool and things were a little bit quieter. Some androids were moving luggage and he caught a flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. He turned. Gold mechanical with distinctive weights on his head. Libra System. The mechanical was moving some crates onto a cart.<br/>
<br/>
“Balance!” another android yelled. “Hurry up!”<br/>
<br/>
And the mechanical began to move faster.<br/>
<br/>
Stinger tapped a button on his Seiza Blaster, doing a scan.<br/>
<br/>
And he was right. Naga’s friend, Balance, was their Tenbin Gold. Androids and mechanicals were housed in a different area here. Raptor had the schematics. This would take some planning. Balance seemed a little rusty, slightly in disrepair, but not on the edge like Naga did. Not at all.<br/>
<br/>
His transport pulled up.<br/>
<br/>
He had to figure out something. Fast.<br/>
<br/>
<em>To be continued...</em></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Space Dragon Palace Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Check in went faster the second time. Stinger arrived and stepped out of the transport, and a butler was on him immediately.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Updating a little sooner than expected! </p>
<p>Naga gets a little more explicit in this chapter about what's happened to him, so please turn back if that would not be good for you to read.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>2/Space Dragon Palace Again<br/><br/></strong>Check in went faster the second time. Stinger arrived and stepped out of the transport, and a butler was on him immediately. “Stinger-sama? Your usual suite and company?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” he replied curtly.<br/><br/>“Right away. Shall I show you to your room?”<br/><br/>“I know the way.”<br/><br/>“Very good, sir.”<br/><br/>The locks were biometric, so Stinger just needed a thumbprint to get into the suite. He watched out of the corner of his eyes as the butler practically ran across the foyer and into a staff-only entrance. Probably had to do with his request that Naga always be available for him. They had to change their plans for that night. Well, he didn’t care. Raptor had him looking like a high roller with more money than he could possibly spend in one lifetime.<br/><br/>He strode to the elevator and to the suite.<br/><br/>He’d done a body scan of Naga while he slept, and got a similar, albeit incomplete, one of Balance from their brief encounter outside.<br/><br/><em>“The scanner is under his skin on his lower back. You’ll have to get it out before you can leave.”<br/><br/></em><em>“I know. My concern is more about how one person went in and two are leaving.”<br/><br/></em><em>“I could do a decent holo-disguise. Just connect your Seiza Blaster to the room datapad and I can make it look like two of you checked in. Bring some clothes for Naga, and you should be able to leave undetected.”<br/><br/></em><em>“What about Balance?”<br/><br/></em><em>“He’s trickier. He doesn’t appear to have the same kind of tracker as Naga. His is an explosive collar around his neck. You’ll have to deactivate that.”<br/><br/></em><em>“If I tap into the datapad, can you fake a maintenance emergency and get Balance assigned to it?”<br/><br/></em><em>“Yes, but that will take time. Possibly hours.”<br/><br/></em><em>“I’m loaded, right? I could always stay another day.”<br/><br/></em><em>“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”<br/><br/></em>Stinger was just planning on needing that second night.<br/><br/>The suite was much the same as Stinger remembered. He set his pack down on the bench at the foot of the bed and picked up the datapad. A few taps and he ordered dinner for both himself and Naga, and then quickly opened a secure channel with Raptor, allowing her to get the uplink to the datapad. “Okay,” she said. “I’ve got my entry point. I’ll use this channel to update you.”<br/><br/>And they disconnected. Raptor would work her magic.<br/><br/>Stinger was paying attention this time and heard the door open. He turned to see Naga quietly and quickly let himself into the room. He was wearing the same clothes as before, but somehow looked more careworn, exhausted and anxious. He immediately relaxed upon seeing Stinger and hurried across the room to him, shocking Stinger as he hugged him close. He did the only thing he could think, which was to return the embrace immediately, hugging Naga hard. “Stinger,” Naga breathed, body shaking.<br/><br/>“It’s okay,” he whispered. “I said I’d be back.”<br/><br/>“I know.” Naga pulled back a little, silver eyes bright. “I was with Cirroc last night. I was supposed to be again tonight—they were healing me when you arrived.” He seemed relieved. “I’d rather be with you.”<br/><br/>And Stinger saw immediately what Naga meant about being healed. He had bruises still visible on his chest and arms, and Stinger assumed other places as well. Fucking hells, he wanted to burn this place to the ground. Keeping his arms loosely around Naga, he asked, “Is there a med kit in here?”<br/><br/>Naga nodded. “By the cooler. Why?”<br/><br/>“Just… let’s finish healing these bruises.”<br/><br/>“I’m sorry. They would have finished, but I told them you didn’t like to be kept waiting.”<br/><br/>Stinger gave Naga an appraising look. He’d lied, actually <em>lied</em>, so he could get here faster. Whoever this Cirroc was, he just moved up Stinger’s list of people who deserved to be shot into space and left there. And by the gods, he had to keep this trust that Naga placed in him. He frowned as he studied the bruises, not wanting to think what Naga looked like <em>before</em> they started healing him. “It’s not your fault,” he said finally. “I just don’t want you to be in any pain.”<br/><br/>Naga gave him one of those imperceptible shrugs. “It’s not that bad,” he said softly.<br/><br/>Stinger didn’t want to think about the pain Naga had been through, so he just said, “Sit down on the couch. I’ll get the med kit.” Naga nodded and moved out of his embrace, heading for the couch. Stinger caught sight of his pack, remembering he had things for Naga in there. Not just the clothes for when they left, but some things he had made. He and Raptor spent the last three days planning this escape mission down to the last detail with multiple contingency plans. Their only option was to get Naga and Balance out. Which left little time for him to hole up in his room and work furiously on the projects he wanted to finish for Naga. So now Raptor knew about the knitting and the sewing. She honestly didn’t seem all that surprised, just gave him a long-suffering look and commented, <em>“The Scorpius System is known for their handcrafts.”<br/><br/></em>He decided on the bear first, then the clothes after they got done healing Naga. Stinger pulled the bear out of his pack—a little larger than a normal plush, made of blue and gray scrap fabric, all soft to the touch. He’d been careful not to overstuff the bear. He then went to the bar replicator and grabbed the med kit, coming over to the couch. Naga watched his movements with eyes skilled at picking up anything. He was a little guarded, but seemed much more relaxed than their last encounter. Stinger sat down next to him. Naga looked at the med kit and the bear with interest.<br/><br/>“Here,” he said, handing the bear to Naga. “I made this for you.”<br/><br/>Naga gently took the bear, squeezing the plush a little and then holding the bear to his chest. “You made this?” he asked, eyes wide.<br/><br/>“Yeah,” Stinger replied, rubbing the back of his neck.<br/><br/>“It’s very nice,” Naga whispered, voice getting rough. He adjusted his grip on the bear, clearing his throat and blinking rapidly. “Thank you.” He looked up, tears genuinely gathering. “They won’t let me have it in our quarters. We’re not allowed to keep anything.”<br/><br/>“I’m staying for a while. You don’t need to worry about that right now.”<br/><br/>Naga nodded, a tear actually escaping. He looked at the bear fondly. “What kind of animal is it?” he asked.<br/><br/>“A bear.”<br/><br/>“We don’t have those on my home planet. Do they have them on yours?”<br/><br/>“No. I’m from a desert planet.” He opened the med kit, locating the contusion wand, which would work on bruises and minor cuts and scrapes. “But we get a lot of travelers from other systems interested in our handcrafts. They bring plush animals from their planets and we copy the designs. I happen to like this one the best.”<br/><br/>“I like it too,” was the quiet reply.<br/><br/>“Take the vest off,” Stinger requested. “Then I’ll work on these bruises.”<br/><br/>Naga complied, letting the silly piece of clothing drape over the back of the couch. Stinger really wanted to get a few good meals into him. Hopefully their dinner would show up soon. He’d ordered some extra sides on purpose and figured he could order some snacks later. Raptor would yell at him about the bill he was running up, but feeding Naga felt much more important than worrying about Rebellion’s stockpile of money.<br/><br/>“Turn around,” he said softly. Naga shifted on the couch, still holding his bear. Stinger got to work, using the wand on the bruises. Each one took a few seconds to heal, and he moved slowly, going up his back and down each arm, then finally asking Naga to turn and working on the ones on his chest. Naga was quiet, just watching his movements.<br/><br/>“Do you have any others?”<br/><br/>A wince and a nod. “On my legs.”<br/><br/>“Anything else?”<br/><br/>A shake this time, and Naga explained, “Pelvic area is healed first.”<br/><br/>Every swear word in every language Stinger knew popped into his head.<br/><br/>“I don’t want to ask you to take the pants off if you’re not comfortable.”<br/><br/>“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”<br/><br/>“Are you sure?”<br/><br/>The ghost of a smile came over Naga’s face. “I am. Besides, there’s a few on my thighs that really hurt and it’s easier if someone else holds the wand.”<br/><br/>Naga was quick as he took off the pants, leaving him bare in front of Stinger. He tried to concentrate on his legs and the bruises he was healing, but his stray thoughts went into what Naga would like look after training and regular decent meals. Stinger already felt protective of Naga, and he’d always been attracted to quiet types. But this was not the place, not the time, and, if Stinger had been in Naga’s place, he’d never want to do anything remotely sexual ever again. How Naga was still so impassive and neutral amazed him, in spite of the anxiety.<br/><br/>“All done,” Stinger said once he was satisfied that the bruises on his legs were gone.<br/><br/>“Thank you.” Naga pulled the navy blue pants back on quickly and efficiently.<br/><br/>And the door chimed, letting them know dinner had arrived.<br/><br/>“I’ll let her in,” Naga stated, a sharp glance at the med kit letting Stinger know that he needed to put that away quickly or the maid would start asking questions to the wrong people.<br/><br/>Well, Stinger knew when to follow orders. He put the wand back in the kit and snapped the box shut, smoothly going to the bar replicator and putting the kit away. Naga walked to the door and waited until the kit was away, before opening the door and letting the maid wheel in their food. Stinger punched the bar replicator and got two glasses of sparkling water, while Naga helped the maid put the food out on the table. She was gone quickly after.<br/><br/>“What did you order?” Naga asked as Stinger brought the water to the table.<br/><br/>“A lot of stuff. Figured you can see what you like.” He pointed out the dishes as he sat down. “Vegetable lasagna, eggplant parmesan, something with zucchini, rice.”<br/><br/>Naga blinked. “No meat?”<br/><br/>“None,” he confirmed, and then added, “Ophiuchus System is vegetarian, right?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” was the whispered reply.<br/><br/>“So wouldn’t meat make you sick? Because you’re never eaten it before?”<br/><br/>“It does,” Naga confirmed, looking away, but then added softly, “But I don’t always have a choice.”<br/><br/>He then shivered, never having put the vest back on. Stinger jumped up. “I almost forgot. I have something else for you.”<br/><br/>Naga blinked, looking a little shocked, and just watched as Stinger went to his pack and pulled out the gray cardigan style sweater. He came back to the table and handed Naga the garment. “You always seem cold,” he explained. “I thought this might help.”<br/><br/>That ghost of a smile was back as Naga slipped into the cardigan and snuggled into the warmth. He glanced over at this bear, still sitting on the couch, and the smile became a little more pronounced. He didn’t say anything about not being allowed personal possessions, just seemed to be enjoying the sweater. “Thank you,” he said again. “You made this?”<br/><br/>Stinger nodded, feeling heat rise in his cheeks.<br/><br/>“You’re very talented.”<br/><br/>“Not really,” he immediately responded. “Let’s eat.”<br/><br/>Stinger got Naga to try all the dishes and was really pleased that he seemed to thoroughly enjoy all of them. Although the rice dish with the vegetable stir-fry seemed to be his favorite. The food was gone, when Naga looked at him and asked, “Where do you live?”<br/><br/>“I’m from the Scorpius System.”<br/><br/>“I know,” Naga replied, glancing at his tail. “But where do you live now?”<br/><br/>“How do you know I don’t currently live in the Scorpius System?”<br/><br/>That tiny shrug and then, “Just a feeling.”<br/><br/>Stinger leaned back in his chair. “Well, you’re right. I don’t live in the Scorpius System anymore.” He exhaled, thinking back. “I haven’t lived there in almost two years now.” He paused. “I live on a spaceship. We’re orbiting a planet in Vela System right now.”<br/><br/>“Who else lives there?”<br/><br/>“Well, me. And android named Raptor. She was built in the Aquila System. She’s really smart, runs the whole ship. A chef from the Dorado System. His cooking is even better than this, believe me.” Naga glanced at their empty plates, tiny frown saying he wasn’t sure he believed that bit. “And a shinobi from the Chameleon System. She knows ninpou the elders in my tribe can’t begin to imagine. And there’s another android. This one is a wrestling ox model, extremely strong, very into justice.”<br/><br/>“Are you pirates?”<br/><br/>Stinger blinked. “No, we’re… pirates? Why would you think we’re pirates?”<br/><br/>“You remind me of the pirate crews in the stories Balance tells.”<br/><br/>“We’re not pirates.” Stinger took a deep breath. This was too perfect segue way. “We’re Kyurangers.”<br/><br/>Naga got that ghost smile on his face, nose wrinkling ever so slightly. “The Kyurangers are just a legend,” he said, voice neutral. “Pirates actually exist.”<br/><br/>“Well, believe it. We’re Kyurangers.”<br/><br/>“Wait…” Naga frowned a little bit more, obviously thinking through the systems that Stinger had told him. “Is the wrestling android from the Taurus System?” When Stinger nodded, Naga frowned even more. Looks like the legend of the Kyurangers was even present in a closed-borders system like the Ophiuchus System.<br/><br/>“Have you heard the legend?” Stinger asked gently.<br/><br/>Naga looked up. “From Balance. He said it’s a popular poem with children in his home system. He thought it was funny that the Kyurangers have someone from the Libra and Ophiuchus Systems because those are our home systems. But he said it’s just a legend. They aren’t real.”<br/><br/>“We’re real.”<br/><br/>“But if you are a Kyuranger, why are you <em>here</em>?”<br/><br/>“To get you and Balance out of here.”<br/><br/>“But we’re not Kyurangers.”<br/><br/>Stinger stood up and went quickly to his pack. He pulled out his own Kyutama, and then the Tenbin and Hebitsukai Kyutamas. He brought all three to the table and set them down. Naga stared wide-eyed at the globes. “Those are Kyutamas,” Stinger explained softly. “Each of the nine legendary saviors has one that allows them to change into a Kyuranger. We call them Change Kyutamas. We tracked down all nine of them. Some already had owners, some hadn’t been brought to their owners yet.” He sighed. “Spada, the chef, and Hammie, the shinobi, are off tracking down the owner of the Ookami Kyutama. Champ, the wrestling android, is off finding the Shishi Kyutama’s owner. Raptor and I tracked Tenbin and Hebitsukai here.” He looked directly at Naga. “Naga, that’s you and Balance.”<br/><br/>Naga reeled back, pushing away from the table and standing up. His confused, nervous energy was palpable and his expression held more fire than Stinger had seen yet. He walked over to the couch and picked up his bear, clutching the plush animal to his chest as he paced. “That’s not possible,” he said, voice strained and cracking. “It’s not real.”<br/><br/>Stinger picked up the Hebitsukai Kyutama and brought the small globe over to Naga. “Naga,” he said calmly, “Just take the Kyutama and see what happens.”<br/><br/>Frowning, Naga held out one hand and allowed Stinger to drop the Kyutama there. Immediately, the tiny silver globe began to glow, fully bonding with Naga.<br/><br/>A tear fell down Naga’s cheek, followed by another. His strength seemed to give out, because he sank down to his knees, still holding the Kyutama in his outstretched arm, like he wanted to keep the thing away from him, but also wanted to pull the globe closer. His bear was clutched tightly to his chest. His breathing was harsh and he began to completely sob, those noises <em>hurt</em> Stinger to hear. “It’s not true,” Naga was sobbing. “It can’t be true. <em>I</em> can’t be a Kyuranger. I can’t! They’re supposed to be saviors and legends and I got caught and ended up here! The universe can’t want me for this. Not after everything they did to me! That they’re still doing to me! I’m not worthy of that. I’m just this worthless thing. I left home and couldn’t figure anything out, and then we got caught and…” he trailed off, because he was sobbing too hard to make any sense.<br/><br/>Stinger’s heart pounded in his chest. He didn’t want Naga to make himself sick—and he’d never even dreamed about this kind of reaction before. He got down on the floor next to Naga and approached him slowly, starting with one hand gently rubbing his back. When that small touch didn’t seem to bother Naga, he gently pulled him up a little bit and into his arms, holding him close while he continued to cry. He rocked him gently back and forth, soothing nonsense noises coming out of him. After a few minutes, Naga began to calm down a little, relaxing a little bit against Stinger.<br/><br/>“Naga,” he said softly. “I know awful things have happened to you. I haven’t known you that long, but you’re amazing. You left home, became a thief. You are incredibly strong and brave. And I’m so sorry you ended up in a place like this.”<br/><br/>“I’m too broken,” Naga whispered.<br/><br/>“No one’s too broken,” Stinger replied. “We’re all just bruised and scarred and doing the best we can. The universe doesn’t choose heroes on a pedestal. It chooses real people, who represent the best of what their systems can be. I couldn’t believe that was me for a long time, but it is.”<br/><br/>“It’s too much. I can’t save the universe.”<br/><br/>“Alone, no. But once all nine Kyurangers are together? Jark Matter is going to regret the day they ever came to this galaxy.”<br/><br/>Naga lifted his tear-streaked face. “You said Balance is one too?”<br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/>“That makes more sense. He’s very brave.” Naga thought for a moment and then asked, “When I asked why you were here, you said me. That was true.”<br/><br/>“It was true.”<br/><br/>“How are we getting out?”<br/><br/>“Raptor’s working on that.” Stinger paused and added, “In the meantime, I want you to get some rest and get some food into you.”<br/><br/>Naga shifted, wrapping an arm around Stinger. Took him a moment to recognize the gesture for what it was—another hug. Stinger just continued to hold him close, still rocking him a little and pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “I’m scared,” Naga whispered after a while.<br/><br/>“All of us were terrified when we found out,” Stinger replied softly.<br/><br/>“I didn’t think…” Naga trailed off, sighing. “I didn’t think I’d ever leave here.”<br/><br/>“I know.”<br/><br/>“I thought Cirroc was going to kill me tonight.” Naga looked up at Stinger again, still crying a little. “And it made my chest ache, because I knew I would never get to see you again. They’d try to find someone to replace me for you, and I didn’t want them to, because I wanted to be there for you. And not just because you didn’t make me do what the others have.” He exhaled shakily. “You were kind and I thought… if eventually you wanted to have sex, I would want to with you. Because you would have made it nice for me.” He shuddered. “I didn’t want to do anything with the others.”<br/><br/>“They raped you,” Stinger said flatly.<br/><br/>Naga tilted his head to one side, which Stinger took to mean he was confused.<br/><br/>He tried again, “People talk about consensual sex and non-consensual sex… but there’s no such thing as non-consensual sex. If everyone wants to, it’s sex. If one person doesn’t, it’s rape.”<br/><br/>“That’s a crime,” except Naga phrased it more like a question.<br/><br/>“Pretty bad one,” Stinger confirmed. “Up there with murder.”<br/><br/>“We don’t have either in the Ophiuchus System.” A pause, and then, “But if I want to have sex with someone and the other person does too, it’s okay?”<br/><br/>“Sure.”<br/><br/>Naga nodded, like he was storing the information for later. Stinger reached out, wiping away a few stray tears with his thumb. He gently stood up and then reached down to help Naga to his feet. He swayed just a little, but corrected quickly. The large window had armchairs underneath, so Stinger gingerly took Naga’s hand and led him over to one, sitting him down. He took the Kyutama and Naga didn’t protest. Naga immediately curled into the oversized chair, tucking his feet under him and clutching his bear. Without saying anything, Stinger got the throw blanket from the living area and wrapped that around Naga. He put the Kyutama with the others on the table. He then went to the replicator and got him a cup of tea, same as before, remembering the drizzle of honey. He handed the cup to Naga, whose hands shook a little, as he nodded his thanks. Stinger sat down across from him, kicking his boots off and keeping an eye on Naga.<br/><br/>At first, he didn’t think Naga was going to drink the tea, but then he slowly took a sip. That ghost of a smile was back. “This reminds me of the tea I drank at home,” he said softly.<br/><br/>“Is that a good thing?” Stinger asked.<br/><br/>Naga looked thoughtful. “It makes me feel calmer, so I think so.” He sighed. “I left home for a reason, but thinking about the routine and the stability… there was a kind of peace to that. Everyone did their part, no conflicts, no arguing, no crime.” He paused. “But being outside, traveling, seeing the art and the innovation that came with emotions and ugliness, I knew we could never truly achieve what we are capable of, simply because messiness comes with great things.” Naga stared out the window. “Very few of us ever leave. The ones that cause a problem in the outside world are eliminated.”<br/><br/>“You aren’t a problem?” Stinger asked mildly.<br/><br/>Naga turned towards him. “I was caught by Jark Matter and given a death sentence. No, I’m not a problem.” He adjusted the blanket around his shoulders and muttered darkly, “Someone else is doing their dirty work.”<br/><br/>“Jark Matter razed my home planet,” Stinger said softly, not sure why.<br/><br/>Those silver eyes gazed at him intensely.<br/><br/>He continued, “We’re a gateway into other systems, so we were constantly targeted. Everyone in all the villages got caught in the fight somehow. If we weren’t actively fighting against Jark Matter, we were preserving food or tending to the wounded or making weapons and bombs. It’s no way to live.” He let out a long breath. “My brother went with a militia group to an outpost that Jark Matter was attacking. I stayed back at the encampment with the rest of the fighters. Aniki came back. I thought that was good news, until he destroyed our whole encampment. Killed nearly everyone there.” Stinger shook his head. “Joined Jark Matter. I don’t know what they promised him, but he betrayed us, killed his own people. I swore I’d find him and make him pay for what he did.” He smiled wryly. “But it turns out, a Jark Matter assassin is a very difficult person to find.”<br/><br/>“Where are all your people now?”<br/><br/>“Survivors were evacuated to a Rebellion-controlled planet in the Sagittarius System. It’s a more temperate climate. They have food and jobs.” He blinked, glancing to the window. “I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to go back to our home planet.”<br/><br/>“What did you do before you had to fight?”<br/><br/>Stinger leaned back, thinking for a moment. “We’re a limited-resources planet, so we don’t necessarily go on to college or trade school, after high school, like others. I graduated from high school and took enough engineering and maintenance courses to get odd jobs in the bigger villages. Eventually, I started working for myself, got a small client pool, would go and fix whatever equipment was broken.” His felt his lips quirk into a smile as he remembered those years. “I was good. Got lots of referrals.”<br/><br/>Naga smiled. “And you make sweaters and animals.”<br/><br/>“Everyone can do that. It’s nothing special.”<br/><br/>“I like it.” Naga held the bear a little closer.<br/><br/>“What did you do?” Stinger asked him.<br/><br/>“I worked security for my city. Travel is highly restricted and monitored, so we always knew about all travelers in advance, even people from other systems on diplomatic missions.” He thought for a moment. “I think the Ophiuchus high school diploma is equivalent to a university degree other places.” He shrugged. “I’m not actually sure. I just went from high school into the security training program, and then I became a guard.”<br/><br/>“And then you met Balance.”<br/><br/>Naga’s lips drew into a tiny smile into his teacup. “Then I met Balance.” He turned, staring out the window. “Do you ever think about all the moments in your life that led you to this point, right now?”<br/><br/>“Sometimes.” He’d actually thought about that a lot since meeting Naga.<br/><br/>“I thought I made a lot of bad choices, until I met you.” Naga turned to him. “You gave me hope.”<br/><br/>“Hope?”<br/><br/>“That’s there were still good people in the universe. People who don’t use money to do whatever depraved thing they want. Even in a place like this… there can still be a kind person.” Naga glanced over at the table, clearly looking at their Kyutamas. “You’ll teach me, right? How to be a Kyuranger?”<br/><br/>Stinger’s chest felt tight when he whispered, “Yes. I will.”<br/><br/>“I don’t think I’ll be very good at it, but I’ll try.”<br/><br/>“That’s all any of us are doing.”<br/><br/>“Stinger?”<br/><br/>“Yeah, Naga?”<br/><br/>“Can I… can I sit with you?” Stinger frowned, not sure he understood the request fully. Naga seemed to sense his confusion, because he tried to clarify with, “I like being close to you. I feel… safe… when I’m close to you.”<br/><br/>“Okay,” he agreed, still not really sure what Naga wanted to do.<br/><br/>He watched, heart pounding, as Naga set the now empty teacup on a small table and stood up, letting the blanket fall from his shoulders. He gently set his bear down on the chair. He walked slowly over to Stinger’s chair. These chairs were oversized, so the two of them probably could have sat next to each other, but Naga seemed to have something else in mind. He gently got one knee on the chair, and then the other, straddling Stinger’s lap… and <em>then</em> he got what Naga wanted to do. He wrapped an arm around Naga’s waist, gently holding him as he got settled, fully seated in Stinger’s lap. Naga wrapped his arms around Stinger’s shoulders, ultimately resting his head on his shoulder. Stinger got both arms around him, their bodies fully flush, feeling Naga’s chilly skin warm up at their contact, feeling his even breathing, frantic heartbeat. Naga’s breath was warm against his neck.<br/><br/>Gods, how long had it been since he could just <em>be</em> with someone?<br/><br/>Never.<br/><br/>Naga pulled back just a little, gazing at Stinger. He leaned in a little closer, lips gently brushing against his own. Without thinking, Stinger finished the kiss, pressing their lips close together. Naga’s breath hitched and he moved closer to Stinger, fingers clutching his shirt. He hung onto the simple, chaste kiss for longer than he should have, savoring the softness of Naga’s lips, the way they both had erratic heartbeats, the way he felt warm and calm and <em>closer</em> to anyone than he ever had in his life. They broke apart to breath and Naga smiled.<br/><br/>“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” he whispered.<br/><br/>Stinger felt a pang as he asked, “Do you want to kiss me?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” was the immediate response, followed by, “Do <em>you</em> want to kiss <em>me</em>?”<br/><br/>“Yes. Yes, I do.”<br/><br/>“Okay then.”<br/><br/>Naga started the next kiss, and Stinger took over, capturing Naga open-mouthed and deepening the simple kiss. Naga made a surprised noise, but then relaxed into the new sensations, one hand releasing Stinger’s shirt to thread through his hair. Stinger raised a hand, cupping Naga’s cheek and keeping him close. His other arm was tight around Naga’s waist. He felt hot and flushed and Naga’s skin was delightfully warm under his touch. Their tongues met and Stinger would have sworn by all the gods that he’d never had a kiss this good before. Naga learned quickly, chasing what clearly felt good, making Stinger produce noises from the back of his throat.<br/><br/>Then Stinger’s brain started working again and he ended the kiss gently. Naga looked dazed, but also pleased. “Stinger?” he said, voice hoarse.<br/><br/>“Yeah, Naga?”<br/><br/>“I meant it when I said I wanted to have sex with you.”<br/><br/>“I know.” And somehow he did know that. “And I want to with you too. But we should get to know each other a little better. Get out of here first, let you get into the routine back on the ship.” Emotions were running high right now, at least Stinger’s were, and he was not taking things any further, no matter how much Naga said he wanted to. There was a place and a time to start a relationship or go on a date, and this horrible place was not it.<br/><br/>Naga nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”<br/><br/>Stinger gave Naga a long look, gently smoothing down some errant strands of hair, before he asked, “Is there anything else you want to do tonight?”<br/><br/>“Take a bath.”<br/><br/>“A bath?”<br/><br/>A quick nod. “The bathrooms in these suites are amazing. Large tubs, big enough for two people, water jets, bath salts and powders.” Naga’s voice hitched a little when he added, “I’ve never been in them, because we’re not allowed to unless a client…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “Do people bathe together on your planet?”<br/><br/>Stinger nodded. “Desert, so we have bath houses people go to. Pretty communal experience.” And everyone being naked in the bath house was not a problem. Each bath house had a male and female side, tubs, showers, the works.<br/><br/>“We do too.” Naga paused. “Would it be all right if we took a bath together?”<br/><br/>Was Stinger going to deny Naga anything? Especially when the thing was so simple and Stinger was absolutely fine with said thing? No, no he was not. Naga seemed to enjoy simple pleasures in life and those were the kinds of things Stinger loved to provide.<br/><br/>“Sure,” Stinger said warmly. “Let’s take a bath together.”<br/><br/>Naga seemed pleased about Stinger’s agreement, in his own understated way. Less about his facial expression and more about the way he seemed less tense, and got up gracefully from the chair. He reached out and took Stinger’s hand, who allowed Naga to help him out of the chair. He stopped at his pack and started taking clothes out. Some of the clothes were Naga’s for their escape (hopefully in the morning), but others were comfortable things he’d made. He pulled out a gray tunic-style shirt and a pair of dark green plaid pajama pants. (After all the navy blue, Stinger figured he’d want a different color.) “These are for you,” he said. “I thought you might want some lounge clothes.”<br/><br/>That genuine smile that came across Naga’s face was brilliant as he took the clothes and led Stinger into the bathroom. (Taking a quick detour to grab all the Kyutamas and bring them into the bathroom with them. Stinger wanted eyes on them.) The room was massive, but Naga seemed to know exactly what he was looking for. He set the clean clothes on the counter and went over to the tub. He selected some settings, including the temperature for the water. “Chamomile and lavender,” Naga explained, and then read off a temperature. “Is that okay?”<br/><br/>A little on the warm side for Stinger, but Naga would probably like it, so he agreed.<br/><br/>He thought for a moment, that taking his clothes off in front of Naga might be awkward. But Naga wasn’t eyeing him or making anything weird, just taking care of his own things. So Stinger felt a little less weird about stripping down to nothing, trying to copy Naga’s neat folding of the clothes (instead of his usual style of letting all his clothes be in a pile on the floor.)<br/><br/>Soon enough, they were both in the hot water. Stinger leaned against one end of the tub, smiling at how much Naga seemed to be enjoying the bath. He grabbed the mini datapad near the tub to peruse more food for Naga, who had grabbed a washcloth.<br/><br/>“What do you want for a snack?” Stinger asked.<br/><br/>Naga seemed almost… bemused. “We just ate dinner.”<br/><br/>Stinger shrugged. “I could use a snack. How about you?”<br/><br/>Naga tilted his head to one side, studying Stinger.<br/><br/>“I kind of think this fruit and cheese platter looks good,” he threw out casually. Which caused Naga to move closer to him in the tub, hand on his leg as he balanced and looked at the selection. “You want the one with strawberries or the one with mango?” he asked, looking up and realizing how close Naga was. Naga didn’t seem bothered at all.<br/><br/>“Strawberries,” he finally said. He seemed proud of himself for making a decision. He looked away, and then seemed to gather his resolve when he asked, “Can we order the cinnamon bread too?”<br/><br/>“Of course,” Stinger confirmed, adding that to the order. He placed the order.<br/><br/>Naga patted his knee. “Thank you,” he said softly.<br/><br/>Spada was going to have fun figuring out what Naga liked to eat. Stinger could already imagine their well-intentioned chef going nuts trying to figure out what Naga’s favorite things were, when Naga would hardly confirm or deny what he liked. At least Stinger knew Spada would make damn sure everything he fed Naga was vegetarian.<br/><br/>“Turn around,” Stinger said. “I’ll wash your back.”<br/><br/>Naga complied, relaxing completely as Stinger ran the washcloth up and down his back. And this whole bath thing? Stinger had to admit that this was nice. Each room on the ship had a small private wet bathroom, but there was a larger shower room, with private tubs. He’d always been in a rush or trying to keep to himself, so he’d never been down there. But this experience with Naga might be enough to change his mind about that. Especially if Naga was with him.<br/><br/>Eventually, they got out of the water and dried off. Naga dressed in the new clothes Stinger made for him, pulling his sweater on as well. Stinger put on his shorts and undershirt, gathering the rest of his clothing to take into the room. (He noticed Naga left the navy blue pants. Clearly done with them.) He took the Kyutamas and placed them in his pack.<br/><br/>The food was sitting on the coffee table and Stinger was pleased that Naga made a beeline for the food, not taking a second to worry about Stinger or not being allowed to eat anything. Stinger just smiled, glad that Naga had faith in him. He went to the replicator and got the sparkling water again, something Naga clearly seemed to like. Naga had gotten his bear from the chair, and had the bear in his lap as he sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, slowly eating some of the fruit. Stinger brought the water and sat down on the other side of the coffee table. “Like it?” Stinger asked with a smile.<br/><br/>Naga nodded. “It’s very good.”<br/><br/>Stinger was a little worried he hadn’t heard back from Raptor, so he sent her a quick message via his Seiza Blaster. Her response was short, but reassured him, <em>Still working. Plan by 0600</em>.<br/><br/>They’d have to get up earlier than that. If he knew Raptor, and he did, that meant she was planning on things to go into serious motion at that time. He’d need two hours earlier for other details, like getting out Naga’s tracker and getting him set up with the holo-disguise. Which meant they needed to go to bed pretty much now. Stinger wasn’t so worried about himself. He’d gotten a decent amount of sleep back on the ship, so he’d be fine on two or three hours. But he did want Naga to be well rested.<br/><br/>The food was gone quickly and Naga looked sleepy, eyelids drooping.<br/><br/>“Bed time,” Stinger said. Naga didn’t really argue at all this time. He let Stinger take his hand and lead him over to the bed. He pulled back the covers and got Naga settled underneath. Naga reached out and grabbed his wrist.<br/><br/>“You’re staying with me, right?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” he confirmed, rounding the bed and slipping in next to Naga.<br/><br/>“When are we leaving?” he asked sleepily.<br/><br/>“Early in the morning. Raptor will send me details and I’ll explain everything.”<br/><br/>“Okay.” A pause, and then, “Balance is coming too?”<br/><br/>“Yes. Balance is coming too.”<br/><br/>“Good. I missed him.” Naga snuggled closer to him. “I’ll be glad to see him. And I’m glad that I’ll get to be with you all the time.”<br/><br/>Hells, Stinger felt like bawling. Instead, he wrapped an arm around Naga, pulling him close, listening to his breathing even out. They needed tonight. Tomorrow could turn into a shitshow. He wanted to enjoy the calm while he could.<br/><br/>------------------<br/><br/>Stinger was already awake when Raptor called at four in the morning.<br/><br/>Time to go.<br/><br/><em>To be continued...</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for all the lovely kudos and comments last chapter! I really do enjoying writing Kyuranger because all the readers are the best! Let me know you're out there, either here or on tumblr!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Escape to the Orion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Naga was sound asleep and didn’t stir when Stinger’s Seiza Blaster went off at four the next morning.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Excuse any medical inaccuracies or inconsistencies! Here we go with chapter three, dear readers! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>3/Escape to the Orion<br/><br/></strong>Naga was sound asleep and didn’t stir when Stinger’s Seiza Blaster went off at four the next morning. Stinger, himself, was already wide awake and had been watching Naga sleep. (He was curled up on his side, bear clutched to his chest, face pressed mostly into a pillow. Only that shock of silver hair really visible. He looked peaceful.) Stinger opened the audio call, and grabbed the datapad from the nightstand, ordering a quick breakfast to be left outside the door.<br/><br/>“You need to listen to the timing very carefully,” Raptor informed him, no usual pleasantries. She was all business this morning, which meant she was on high alert for this mission to be successful.<br/><br/>“Good morning to you too,” Stinger muttered with a lilt of sarcasm.<br/><br/>“That place is incredibly secure—all the latest cybersecurity and real security all over it! Took me most of the night to get into the system. At oh-five-hundred, I’m setting off a sensor to make it look like the climate controls in your room have failed. That’s considered a tier one emergency, immediate assistance. Balance will be assigned to the call. He should get to the room shortly after five. Your transport will arrive at six. I’m amending the check in log to look like you brought your friend and a personal android assistant.”<br/><br/>“Balance is still Cleansweep 783 and Naga will be a human from the Phoenix System?”<br/><br/>“Correct. The holo-disguise should make Naga look like a human from that system—black hair, green eyes, alter his features just enough that he doesn’t look like he’s from the Ophiuchus System.”<br/><br/>“Balance is still too distinctive to be a Cleansweep.”<br/><br/>“I know.” Raptor’s tone was long-suffering. “I set up Naga’s fake credentials with a medical condition that requires assistance. He just needs to limp and lean on Balance. As long as he’s touching Balance, the holo-disguise will extend to him, taking away the gold and the weights, making him look like—”<br/><br/>“A Cleansweep,” Stinger finished.<br/><br/>“You know where Naga’s tracker is. Confirm with a scan. When Balance gets to the room, you’ll need to send me a full body scan, just in case. I can talk you through disassembling the collar, but I want to make sure there’s nothing else on him.”<br/><br/>“Of course.”<br/><br/>“Staff changes over at midnight. No one who saw you check in last night should be around. But just in case, I altered the security camera footage enough to have two blurry figures with you.”<br/><br/>“You’re the best, Raptor.”<br/><br/>“Just get back here in one piece. Comms on at all times. I’m not taking any chances.”<br/><br/>“Are any of the others back yet?”<br/><br/>“Hammie and Spada got back tonight.”<br/><br/>“Any luck?”<br/><br/>“You’ll meet Garu when you all get here this morning.”<br/><br/>“And Champ?”<br/><br/>“Chasing a single engine transport bike. He’s really annoyed with it. Hopefully he finally pins the bike down soon.”<br/><br/>Stinger inwardly smiled. He and Champ didn’t exactly get along, but they both wanted to find his brother for their own reasons. (Stinger to demand an explanation for why someone he’d admired all his life would betray his own people and murder them. Champ wanted revenge because Scorpio had killed his creator. Both of them agreed that Scorpio could go into a Rebellion holding cell in the furthest reaches of the universe or cryo-freeze, whatever he got sentenced to. So they had an understanding and Champ had decided that made them partners. Gods, did he actually miss that loud, annoying android call him ‘partner’ and monologue about justice? Maybe a little.)<br/><br/>“Stinger,” Raptor said, getting his attention. “I am now officially listening to everything you say.”<br/><br/>“Understood,” he confirmed. “Let me get Naga up. I ordered some breakfast. I want him to try to eat something before we take off.”<br/><br/>“You should eat something too.”<br/><br/>“I have a mother, Raptor. She sends me messages about that all the time.”<br/><br/>“Yeah, I know, you don’t need a second one.” He could picture Raptor shaking her head. “Spada is fixing a big breakfast for when you’re back, so don’t fill up too much.”<br/><br/>His parents were with the other survivors in the Sagittarius System. He hadn’t seen them in a year, didn’t talk to them as often as he should. When he first left in search of Scorpio, they had wanted him to come home—well, to the refugee settlement. Rebellion had troops and authorities tracking down Jark Matter, and they couldn’t let Scorpio’s bad decisions influence their lives. They were right, on some level. He knew they were just as hurt as he was and processing in their own way. They didn’t use a lot of standard technology on his home planet, but they had better access in their new home. So his mother had learned she could send him short messages as often as she wanted. Raptor had linked all his personal accounts to his Seiza Blaster, so when he checked those messages, he often had ten or twelve waiting for him. All ridiculously positive and uplifting and reminding him she loved him.<br/><br/>Maybe he should call her when they got back…<br/><br/>Raptor had muted the line, but he knew she was still there.<br/><br/>Naga had slept through that entire conversation. Stinger gently reached out, brushing his hair away from his forehead. “Naga?” he said softly. “Wake up.” He shook his shoulder just a little, not enough to startle him.<br/><br/>A sleepy exhale and a stretch, and Naga made an unhappy noise.<br/><br/>“Come on, Naga. Remember how I said we were leaving soon? Raptor has the plan. We’re leaving this morning.”<br/><br/>Naga opened his eyes. “We’re leaving this morning?” His voice was rough from sleep.<br/><br/>“We are.”<br/><br/>The door chime let him know that their breakfast was waiting outside. “How?” Naga asked as Stinger got out of bed.<br/><br/>“We’re going to eat first, and then get ready. Then Raptor is going to get Balance sent up here. I’ll need your help then.” Stinger opened the door, quickly retrieving the tray and shutting the door behind him. “What do you know about handling and disassembling explosives?”<br/><br/>Naga sat up, shrugging a little. “Standard course with refreshers for security guards.”<br/><br/>Stinger set the tray down on the dining room table, noting that whoever brought the snacks last night had cleared away the dinner dishes. He’d just gotten a light breakfast—some oatmeal with fruit and flavoring, tofu bacon and a little cinnamon muffin for Naga. (After seeing Naga’s utter rapture when eating the cinnamon bread last night, Stinger was thinking that cinnamon was a particular favorite of Naga’s.) “Do you want cinnamon apple or blueberry and brown sugar?”<br/><br/>He watched as Naga climbed out of bed, shivering a little. He hung onto his bear, bringing the animal with him over to the table. He studied the options carefully, although Stinger was pretty sure he knew which one he would pick. (Which would leave Stinger with the blueberry, and he liked a good blueberry anything.) “Apple cinnamon?” he asked softly.<br/><br/>Stinger put that bowl at Naga’s place, and pushed some of the tofu bacon and the muffin his way. “Tea?” he asked as he went to the bar replicator for some coffee.<br/><br/>“Yes, please.”<br/><br/>“You want anything else? Juice? Water?”<br/><br/>“Just tea is fine.”<br/><br/>He brought the drinks over to the table, first preparing the tea exactly how Naga liked. He sat down. Naga picked up his spoon, frowned and put the utensil back down. He was trying to form a question, and Stinger didn’t push or prompt him. Just gave him a moment. He finally said, “We have tracking devices implanted under the skin. That’s how they know where we are. They’re supposed to be explosive. Not enough to kill you, but permanently damage you. The fence around the grounds marks the border. How are you getting that out?”<br/><br/>Shit. How was Stinger going to explain to Naga that wasn’t going to be pleasant? He thought for a moment and replied, “The old fashioned way…”<br/><br/>Naga winced.<br/><br/>“We have the med kit to heal you immediately. I’m sorry, Naga. There’s not a better way to do that without accidentally triggering the thing.”<br/><br/>“I know.” Naga reached out and squeezed his wrist. “I’ll be all right.”<br/><br/>“I’m really sorry.”<br/><br/>“Small price to pay to get out of here.”<br/><br/>Naga picked up his spoon, slowly eating a mouthful of oatmeal. They’d had quite a lot to eat last night, so maybe that was why Naga seemed to be eating slowly. Or nerves. His hand shook just a little, clinking his spoon against the side of the bowl. Stinger ate as much of the oatmeal as he could stomach this early in the morning, watching Naga carefully, who gave up on the oatmeal after a few bites. He set his spoon down. “I’m sorry, Stinger,” he whispered. “My stomach hurts.”<br/><br/>“I know. Try to eat some of the bacon or the muffin. Please?”<br/><br/>Gods above, Naga was really trying to do what he needed. He ended up managing about half of a piece of the tofu bacon, and broke off a small piece of the muffin, eating that.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry all the food is going to waste,” Naga looked up at him, voice tiny.<br/><br/>Food waste was about the last thing on Stinger’s mind right now. He finished his coffee and stood up. “Don’t worry about it,” he said reassuringly. At least he hoped he sounded reassuring. “Let’s get the tracker out, then we can get washed up and dressed.”<br/><br/>Naga plucked at his sweater sleeve. “Do I get to keep these clothes?”<br/><br/>Stinger blinked. “Yes. We’ll put them in my pack.”<br/><br/>“Thank you.”<br/><br/>Stinger gently took Naga’s hand, getting him to stand up and led him into the bathroom. He had him sit down on the edge of the empty tub, and went back in the room to get what he needed—the med kit and his pocketknife (which he had recently sharpened.) He pulled sterilizing pads from the med kit, along with a pair of tweezers, then got out a shallow wound patch (meant for cuts that weren’t simply superficial, like he was about the inflict on Naga.) “Take off the sweater and your shirt,” Stinger said softly, and Naga complied, removing and neatly folding each piece, setting them next to him on the tub’s ledge. He was still holding onto his bear. He looked around the bathroom, trying to decide the best place to do this (where the evidence would not be immediately apparent.) Then his eyes landed on the shower stall.<br/><br/>“Naga,” Stinger said gently. “I think the best place for this is—”<br/><br/>“The shower?” Naga nodded and stood up, stripping off the pajama pants too. He folded and set them with the rest of his clothes. He stepped quickly over into the shower, holding the bear to his chest.<br/><br/>Stinger did a quick scan with his Seiza Blaster, and Raptor un-muted, confirming in his ear that the only tracker was in Naga’s lower back. “Close to the surface of the skin,” she continued. “You should be able to feel the outline if you run your hand over the area.”<br/><br/>“Naga,” Stinger said out loud. “I’m going to check your lower back to confirm where the tracker is.” Another nod from Naga, who didn’t flinch as Stinger visually confirmed where the tracking device was. Raptor was giving him instructions in his ear that he already knew. He went back to the counter, sterilized his hands, the pocketknife and the tweezer, and grabbed the patch. He went over to the shower and explained to Naga that he was sterilizing the spot on his back.<br/><br/>He jumped a little as the sterile pad touched his skin. “It’s cold,” he explained.<br/><br/>Stinger got down on one knee, eye level with the spot on Naga’s back. “I’m going to get the tracker out now,” he warned.<br/><br/>Naga cried out at the first cut of the pocketknife into his skin, but stayed steady, one hand bracing himself against the shower wall, and the other holding the bear close to his face. He had to make enough of a cut to get the tweezers in there and grab the tracker. Which he did. He dropped the pocketknife, and grabbed the tweezers, thankful the thing wasn’t deeper under Naga’s skin. He heard a sob come out of Naga and knew he was crying. Stinger didn’t blame him. This was barbaric field medicine. If they had been in the infirmary on the Orion, Raptor probably could have dissolved the tracker non-invasively. The tracker came out smoothly in one go.<br/><br/>“They’re not biometric,” Raptor was saying into his ear. “So they won’t know that the tracker isn’t under his skin anymore. Just wrap it in gauze and put it anywhere in the room.”<br/><br/>He still had the tracker between the tweezers when he went across the bathroom, pulled some gauze from the med kit and dropped the tracker in there, wrapping said thing tightly. He immediately went back to Naga and got the patch on his wound. The bleeding stopped immediately, although Naga was still crying a little. “It’s over,” Stinger said, one hand on his back. Naga needed to at least rinse off and they needed to use the sterile pads on the bathroom, but the worst was over. Naga turned around and hugged Stinger. He smiled, returning the embrace. “You’re okay,” he murmured.<br/><br/>“Thank you,” was the tiny reply.<br/><br/>“Here,” Stinger said, releasing Naga and motioning to one arm. “I’ll take the bear. If you don’t want to completely shower, just rinse off. I’ll bring your clothes in here.” Naga understood what he meant. Stinger still needed to wash his hands, so he tucked the bear under Stinger’s arm. He grabbed the pocketknife and stepped out of the shower. The patch was waterproof, so Naga would be fine.<br/><br/>Stinger took care of using the sterile pads on the tweezers and the pocketknife, returning the tweezers to the med kit and disposing securely of the used sterile pads, also thoroughly washing his hands. The shower water turned on and he could see Naga’s outline through the glass door. He let the water run down his face for a while. Good. He needed a break. He took the med kit, pocketknife and Naga’s bear out into the room. He returned the med kit to its proper place, then his pocketknife in his pack. He took the rest of the clothes for Naga out of his pack—simple paid of black pants, a soft white tunic-style shirt, and a flowing jacket that was dark gray. The holo-disguise was a lapel pin shaped like a Jark Matter sympathizer group. He also had underwear, socks and a pair of slip-on shoes. (He figured they’d get Naga proper shoes back on the ship.) He set the bear by his pack and brought the clothes into the bathroom. He picked up the folded clothes from the tub ledge.<br/><br/>“You okay, Naga?” he called.<br/><br/>“Yes,” was the quick reply. “I’m almost done.”<br/><br/>“Good. I put your clean clothes on the counter. I’m putting your others in my pack.”<br/><br/>“Okay.”<br/><br/>Stinger gathered the folded clothes and took them back to the main room. He stuffed them into his pack and then got dressed himself, including pulling on and lacing up his boots. Same clothes as yesterday, but no one really seemed to ask questions about that around here. Besides, his pack had been full of the things for Naga. He left the bear out for now, since Naga seemed to find a lot of comfort in the plush.<br/><br/>After a few minutes, Naga emerged from the bathroom. His hair was damp, but he was completely dressed in the clothes Stinger set out for him. He looked… normal. The pants were just a touch too big, but Stinger figured they’d be fine after Naga had a few decent meals. He’d even gotten the slip-on shoes. He walked over to Stinger and picked up his bear. “When is Balance getting here?” he asked softly.<br/><br/>Glancing at the time, Stinger replied, “Any minute now.”<br/><br/>“Bathroom is clear.” Naga paused. “Where’s the tracker?”<br/><br/>“Under the pillow.” Naga tilted his head in confusion. Stinger shrugged. “Seemed like a logical place.”<br/><br/>“Very logical place,” Raptor said in his ear.<br/><br/>The door chime sounded and the alert on the datapad said maintenance. Stinger strode across the room and opened the door. Balance was standing there with a toolbox. He waved and said in a sunny voice, “Climate controls not working, sir?”<br/><br/>“No,” Stinger said, ushering him into the room and shutting the door behind him.<br/><br/>Balance stopped once he set foot in the room. He didn’t have facial expressions like some other mechanical lifeforms, but he looked from Stinger to Naga, back to Stinger and then to Naga again. He was definitely confused about what was going on. Seeing Naga wouldn’t have been that unusual, but seeing Naga dressed, not in the usual uniform? That was giving him pause.<br/><br/>“It’s okay, Balance,” Naga said quickly, eyes cutting to Stinger and then back to his friend. “This is Stinger. He’s going to get us out of here.”<br/><br/>Balance whirled back towards Stinger. “Why?”<br/><br/>“We’re Kyurangers.”<br/><br/>Balance whirled back to Naga. “We’re what now?”<br/><br/>“Kyurangers.”<br/><br/>“Naga, buddy, the Kyurangers are a myth. Just a legend. Did this guy slip you some of those mushrooms that make you see things?”<br/><br/>“No,” Naga replied quickly, crossing the room to Balance. “They’re real.”<br/><br/>Stinger went to his pack and pulled out the Kyutamas. “These are Kyutamas,” he explained to Balance. “We tracked the Kyutamas down and then tracked the owners. Tenbin and Hebitsukai were here. That’s you and Naga.”<br/><br/>“That’s crazy, I’m not—”<br/><br/>“Just take your Kyutama, Balance,” Naga interrupted softly.<br/><br/>“Okay. Nothing is going to happen, but if it makes you happy.” Balance reached out and Stinger handed him the Tenbin Kyutama. Which immediately began to glow gold once Balance held the globe. Balance stared at the Kyutama for a long moment, and then looked up at them, “What?” was all he asked.<br/><br/>“I don’t have time to explain, but I will when we’re back on the ship,” Stinger responded. Actually, Raptor would explain when they were back on the ship, but he didn’t need to get into that detail. “Right now, I need to do a scan to see if the collar is the only tracker on you.”<br/><br/>“Uh,” Balance started as Stinger put on his Seiza Blaster and did a fully body scan of the mechanical lifeform. “Shouldn’t you take me to dinner first?”<br/><br/>He uploaded the scan to Raptor.<br/><br/>Seconds later, she said, “The collar is the only tracker. Open a visual feed and I can walk you and Naga through disassembling it.”<br/><br/>He opened the visual screen to the call. Raptor waved at Naga and Balance. “Raptor,” he introduced her. And then pointed out, “Naga and Balance.”<br/><br/>“Hi,” Raptor replied quickly. “Balance, sit down somewhere, and give Stinger the toolbox. He’s going to need it,” she muttered.<br/><br/>Stinger pulled out the bench from the end of the bed, moving his pack to the bed itself. Naga stayed close, still holding his bear to his chest. Balance was confused, and Raptor was rattling off specs of the tracker collar. Balance finally looked at the bear, and then asked Naga, “Where’d you get a stuffed animal, buddy?”<br/><br/>“Stinger made it for me.”<br/><br/>“Stinger <em>made</em> it for you?” Balance repeated. He glanced at Stinger. “And here I thought you were one of those macho-man Rebellion foot soldier types.”<br/><br/>“What?” Stinger near-snapped as he opened the toolbox.<br/><br/>“Okay, fine, a misunderstood rebel who hangs around the forest and liberates the townspeople.”<br/><br/>“Balance, if you want this collar off and want to leave here, <em>shut-up</em>.”<br/><br/>“<em>Fine</em>,” Balance groused back. He glanced at Naga. “He’ll learn I’m delightful.”<br/><br/>“You’re dealing with an old school Jark Matter explosive collar,” Raptor said. “These were actually decommissioned ten years ago, but apparently there are still some in circulation.” She paused, “The tracker isn’t actually implanted in Balance anywhere, and like Naga’s, nothing is biometric, so it won’t read that it isn’t on Balance anymore.”<br/><br/>“They just plan on us not figuring them out and exploding,” Balance piped up.<br/><br/>“Focus on the locking mechanism,” Raptor said.<br/><br/>She began to talk him through the process of slowly picking the lock. He had to be careful, forcing the lock could cause the collar to detonate. He gently lifted the plate on the lock to find a series of wires and tumblers that had to be released in a particular order. Naga was holding his bear with one hand and giving him tools with the other. He was extremely close to Stinger, following his movement closely. Each time he had to move something or cut something, his heart would beat faster.<br/><br/>“Almost there,” Raptor said. “One more wire to cut and the lock should release. Do you see a blue wire running along the bottom?”<br/><br/>He stared at the collar. “No. There’s a white wire and a gray wire.”<br/><br/>Raptor made a frustrated noise. “They must have refurbished this one.”<br/><br/>Naga spoke up suddenly. “It’s the white wire.”<br/><br/>Stinger and Balance turned to him. “Are you sure?” Balance asked, voice panicked.<br/><br/>“Yes. It’s the one going to the lock’s solar power source. It’s the last one to be severed.”<br/><br/>“How do you know that’s where it’s going?” Stinger questioned.<br/><br/>“We studied these on my home planet, but nothing was a color. You had to identify the components based on what they did and where they were placed. My instructor said we didn’t have the luxury of relying on colored wires or components when infiltrators came.” Naga pointed to the white wire. “That one is going to the power source.”<br/><br/>“He’s right about needing to cut the power source,” Raptor confirmed.<br/><br/>They had no other choice. Stinger cut the white wire.<br/><br/>And nearly fell over in relief when the lock released.<br/><br/>Stinger gently picked up the collar and moved the thing under the bed.<br/><br/>Balance jumped up and cried, “All right! Naga, buddy!” He then ran over to his friend and gave him a giant hug. Naga didn’t really return the hug, but definitely allowed Balance to hug him. “I missed you a lot,” Balance continued. “Are you okay? I’ve seen what some of these people do.”<br/><br/>“I’ll be okay now,” Naga replied softly as Balance released him, glancing over at Stinger.<br/><br/>Balance was still holding his Kyutama and skipped over to Stinger. “So when do we start kicking some Jark Matter ass?”<br/><br/>“Once we get out of here and back to the ship.”<br/><br/>Stinger shoved the remaining tools back in the toolbox and kicked the box under the bed with the collar. He moved the bench back in place and grabbed his pack, opening the sack. “Balance, Kyutama in here until we get on the transport and out of range of this place.” Balance complied without a pithy comment. Stinger got the lapel pin out and motioned Naga closer.<br/><br/>“That’s a holo-disguise,” Raptor explained from the visual call. “It will make Naga look like someone from the Phoenix System. Balance, Naga will need to lean on you. As long as you two are touching, the disguise will extend to you and make you look like a Cleansweep android.” Balance made a rude noise, probably because he didn’t want to be disguised as a Cleansweep. Raptor ignored him. “Naga, your name is Andor. You’re from a wealthy family. Balance, you’re Cleansweep 783, Stinger’s android assigned to help Naga.”<br/><br/>“All the check in records modified?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” Raptor confirmed. “Your transport should be arriving any moment. I’m disconnecting until you’re on the transport and out of range. Re-connect the moment you can.”<br/><br/>“Will do. Talk to you soon.” And he ended the call. He looked up at Balance and Naga. “Let’s go.” Naga was shaking when he closed the distance between him and Stinger and gently put his bear in the pack. Stinger closed the pack and slung the bag over one shoulder. Naga activated the lapel pin. Balance offered an arm, and Naga leaned on him well enough to fool casual bystanders.<br/><br/>They could do this. After getting out trackers and disassembling explosive collars, walking from the room to the lobby to the transport should have seemed easy. But somehow, that seemed like the most daunting part of all of this. The holo-disguise was in place, making Naga appear to have black hair and green eyes, and distorted his features so that facial recognition would not pick up Ophiuchus. Stinger took a deep breath and led the way out of the room, heart hammering and mouth dry.<br/><br/>A butler was stationed at the bank of elevators. “Stinger-sama and Andor-sama,” he groveled. And damn, Stinger had to compliment Raptor. He owed her whatever shiny bauble she wanted. (She loved things that were pink and heart-shaped, preferably fluffy. Flowers, rainbows, unicorns, Stinger could find something up her alley.) “How was your stay?”<br/><br/>“Excellent, thank you,” Stinger said curtly, punching a button for the lobby.<br/><br/>“Early morning meeting, sirs?”<br/><br/>“We have business to discuss with the Obsidian Order,” who were a Jark Matter sympathizer group out of the Corvus System.<br/><br/>“Good luck on your negotiations. When can we expect to see you two again?”<br/><br/>“Very soon.”<br/><br/>“Excellent. We are grateful for clients such as yourself.”<br/><br/>Grateful for people with deep pockets who enjoyed ridiculous excess and paying over fifty pongi for a plate of fruit and cheese. Grateful for the sick people willing to pay a premium to do whatever they wanted with their… independent contractors. And hell, now Stinger knew all that was a lie. Naga even said as much—he was caught by Jark Matter and given a choice, here or a work camp. He and Naga were not standing directly next to each other, but he could feel him shaking. Hopefully, the butler would just think that was part of Naga’s medical condition.<br/><br/>The elevator finally showed up.<br/><br/>“We wish you good health and fortune,” the butler said as they stepped inside.<br/><br/>In the quiet of the elevator, Naga let out a shaky breath. Stinger’s Seiza Blaster chimed. Their transport was here. “Not much further,” Stinger muttered.<br/><br/>Balance patted Naga’s arm. He didn’t say anything. Both were aware that surveillance was all over the halls and elevators, so they needed to act the part for a little while.<br/><br/>The elevator was smooth and fast, and they were in the lobby in no time. They were leaving way earlier than Stinger had last time, so practically no one was up and about this early. Some maids and butlers were straightening the lobby. Stinger could see the transport outside at the curb. He wanted to run, but forced himself to walk quickly and confidently. Naga and Balance were keeping up, and Stinger had a feeling that most of Naga’s body weight was on Balance. Not much further, not much further, they could do this, they’d get to the transport.<br/><br/>They hit the door and a butler opened the door, echoing the sentiments from the last butler.<br/><br/>The transport was <em>right there</em>.<br/><br/>Stinger ushered Naga and Balance into the transport, and then got in himself. These were the newer ones, cost a ridiculous amount, but included no tracking and auto-pilot. Stinger could fly a transport or voyager or any small ship as good as the next person, but this had more speed (not as much as his voyager, but more than enough to get them out of range of the Space Dragon Palace and Jark Matter in less than two minutes.) He punched in the coordinates for the way station in the Vela System, an orbiting transport station around an adjacent planet to the one they were orbiting. Raptor would send his voyager for the brief trip back to the Orion.<br/><br/>The transport took off.<br/><br/>Stinger stepped away from the controls, navigating their position on his Seiza Blaster. “You can drop the holo-disguise, Naga,” he said gently, opening his pack and handing Naga his bear. Naga immediately grabbed the bear, holding the plush tight to his stomach.<br/><br/>“Naga, breath, buddy,” Balance said, rubbing his shoulder. “It’s okay.”<br/><br/>Those two minutes seemed like an eternity.<br/><br/>Stinger opened a channel to Raptor the moment they were out of range.<br/><br/>“Thank goodness!” she said. “Keep this line open.”<br/><br/>“Will do.”<br/><br/>“You’ll be back in the Vela System in fifteen minutes, then hop over to the ship. I want to ask Naga and Balance some questions so I can start requisitioning supplies for them.”<br/><br/><em>Thank the gods</em>. Raptor would keep Naga and Balance occupied. Stinger reached out and gently squeezed Naga’s wrist. He got a tight, almost-smile in return. He went back to the controls, keeping an eye on them, wishing he ate more breakfast, because he was suddenly starving.<br/><br/>------------------<br/><br/>Chaos and noise seemed to be their style on the ship. Stinger could see that literally everyone else on the ship was standing behind the airlock, waiting to greet them. He smoothly piloted his voyager down into the docking bay, and the docking sequence took less than a minute. Close the bay doors, let the artificial atmosphere back into the bay, and then they could exit. The airlock opened as they exited the ship.<br/><br/>Raptor led the way, datapad in hand.<br/><br/>She was closely followed by Hammie and Spada, and a lupine organic Stinger had never met. Must be Garu, Ookami Blue, one of the new guys.<br/><br/>“Awesome!” Hammie was yelling.<br/><br/>While Spada was saying, “Welcome back!”<br/><br/>“We’re very excited to meet you,” Raptor said. “You met me, I’m Raptor.” She turned to the others. “This is Hammie, Spada and Garu.”<br/><br/>Balance waved cheerily. Naga was still holding his bear and shrunk back a little, closer to Stinger.<br/><br/>“Stinger,” he introduced himself for Garu’s benefit. “This is Naga and Balance.”<br/><br/>“I just finished making breakfast in the galley,” Spada said. “Why don’t we all go eat, and then you can get settled in your quarters?”<br/><br/>“Then we’ll need to work on requisitioning supplies for you, and the medical check.”<br/><br/>“Sounds great!” Balance agreed. “I really only drink oil. I don’t need to consume food.”<br/><br/>Spada grinned. “I have dietary specifications for everyone on this ship. I always make something that everyone can enjoy and will meet their nutritional needs.”<br/><br/>“Yay!” was the closest approximation Stinger could come in his mind to the happy noise that came bursting out of Balance.<br/><br/>Stinger gently slipped his hand into Naga’s, squeezing gently. “They care,” he said in an undertone. “We can go to breakfast, see if you feel up to eating anything, and then you can get some rest in your quarters before worrying about any of the rest of this stuff.”<br/><br/>Naga let out a shaky breath. His eyes were bright. “I’m scared,” he whispered.<br/><br/>Stinger tried to smile reassuringly. “Don’t be scared of <em>them</em>. They all want to be your friend.”<br/><br/>“Are they your friends?”<br/><br/>Gods, Stinger spent a long time keeping them at arm’s length, didn’t really want to hang out or socialize with them, but he’d fought with them, would continue to fight with them, would take a laser blast for them, so yeah, “They are,” he confirmed.<br/><br/>Naga hung on to his hand as they went to the galley. Raptor had not been exaggerating the big breakfast that Spada prepared. He seemed to have gone all out, and created dishes from everyone’s home world. There was some kind of stew that he thought might belong to Garu. Then the steamed rice, miso soup and grilled fish. Coffee, bread rolls and biscotti. Sweet rolls, scramble with meat, oatmeal, vegetable scramble, tea, large bowls of fruit, sides of toast, bacon and sausage. Stinger made sure Naga got to sit between him and Balance. He looked a little nauseous at the sight of the food, paler than before, swallowing rapidly. Stress, motion sickness and adjusting to being in space, coupled with general anxiety about new people, new place and new (and overwhelming) responsibilities.<br/><br/>Spada very kindly pointed out to Naga which dishes were vegetarian, including the plate of veggie sausage. “The veggie sausage is so good!” Hammie added, taking some for herself.<br/><br/>People were passing plates.<br/><br/>Stinger was genuinely hungry, but he was more worried about Naga. He wasn’t really attempting to take any food. (Spada liked to have as many of their meals family style as he could—he thought sharing a meal, everyone sitting at the same table, was good for bonding and morale, and would make them feel more like a family. He might have had a point, but Stinger still made it his business to be off on patrols for at least one meal a day. Only so many times he could listen to how much Hammie loved Hoshi Minato.)<br/><br/>“Hey,” Stinger said, hand on Naga’s back, rubbing gently. “Are you okay?”<br/><br/>“I’m really sorry,” Naga whispered, tears forming. “My stomach hurts. I don’t think I can eat anything.”<br/><br/>“Are you going to be sick?” Naga shook his head. “Do you want to go lay down?” <em>That</em> got a nod, and then a tear rolled down Naga’s cheek.<br/><br/>Spada always paid close attention when everyone was eating, so he said cheerfully, “Don’t worry about it, Naga! I’ll put aside a plate of the vegetarian options for you. That way you can eat later this morning if you feel up to it.”<br/><br/>“Come on,” Stinger said to Naga. “You can sleep in my room this morning.” He got up and gently took Naga’s hand, getting him up too.<br/><br/>“Want me to bring you sweet rolls and the scramble?” Spada asked him.<br/><br/>“Yes please.”<br/><br/>Spada nodded. Stinger led Naga out of the galley and down the hall to their living quarters. He noticed that Raptor had already assigned rooms for Naga and Balance. They would be directly across the hall from one another and Naga would be next door to Stinger. Coincidence? Probably not. Stinger had randomly chosen his room, as one of the first people on the ship. Everyone filled in around him. He had a double bed. And now that he was about to take Naga into his room, he hoped his room was presentable.<br/><br/>Which his room was. His laundry was put up for once, his half-finished projects were in their designated crate (and not all over his desk), and he’d made his bed before leaving the previous day. Naga was crying softly. “I’m really sorry. Everyone is being so nice. I don’t know why I feel so bad.”<br/><br/>“There’s a lot of reasons,” Stinger said, pulling down the covers.<br/><br/>Naga slipped off his shoes and the jacket. He got into bed, holding his bear, and let Stinger draw the covers around him. Stinger pointed to the bathroom. “Bathroom’s over there, if you feel sick.”<br/><br/>Stinger pulled his desk chair over to the bed, and dimmed the lights. He wanted to be close to Naga until he fell asleep, then he would go get his own food and pick up whatever Spada put aside for Naga. Speaking of, he got his Seiza Blaster and let Spada know he would be by the galley in a while to get the food—no need to come by. Spada was prompt and just acknowledged, saying he would see him soon. Spada’s planet had been occupied by Jark Matter and he had a ridiculous number of siblings. Food was scarce, and yet Spada was one of the nicest, most generous people Stinger knew. Naga would get along well with him, once Naga felt a little more balanced.<br/><br/>He began to sing softly, just an old song from his home planet. Ironically, the same one he’d been singing with the others in the encampment when his brother attacked. He didn’t know why he liked this song so much. <em>The pride of Scorpius would last forever… the poison in me is proof that I’m a warrior, proof that I’m loyal to my gods…<br/><br/></em>The song took on so much more meaning for him after their planet was all but destroyed. Their pride would live on, no matter what system their people were in. Naga’s breathing had evened out. Didn’t take long. The poor guy was utterly exhausted. Stinger was going to do everything in his power to help Naga, to train him, protect him, be there for him. When Raptor took him through the Ophiuchus System, she mentioned Naga would not be able to contact anyone back home—not his parents, friends, no one. People who left weren’t allowed to communicate back. Which meant Naga had them, the other Kyurangers and that was it.<br/><br/>And now, damned if Stinger wasn’t going to change his own attitude on team bonding just so Naga had a group to be with.<br/><br/>He actually felt choked up. Dammit, he needed to call his mom.<br/><br/>Naga would be all right. <em>They</em> would be all right. They had to be.<br/><br/>The universe was counting on them.<br/><br/><em>To be continued...</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for all the continuing sweet comments and feedback! Drop me a comment or kudos, let me know you're out there, either here or on tumblr! This will be five chapters total. :D Thanks for reading! You guys are the best!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. the Orion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The first week had been hard. Naga needed time to adjust and Stinger was worried.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter 4 is here! Naga reveals a little more of what happened to him at the Space Dragon Palace.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>4/the Orion<br/><br/></strong>“Talk about lucky!”<br/><br/>Stinger muttered to Raptor in an undertone, “Does he have a mute button?”<br/><br/>“Be nice,” she shot back.<br/><br/>Stinger tried to contain his annoyance. Champ finally got back about three days ago with the owner of the single-transport space bike—a very loud, very exuberant man from the Leo System named Lucky. He had no trouble making himself at home. And while most people seemed energized by him or at least bemused by him, he got on Stinger’s last nerve. Champ just took him stride, how Champ took most other beings. Lucky overwhelmed Naga, so Naga had taken to avoiding him. But all nine of them were together now, which meant they needed to train seriously and start a plan for taking down Jark Matter infrastructure. Raptor had decided that Stinger and Champ got to lead the training sessions. Her reasoning was simple. Stinger had the most combat experience and Champ was a fighting robot. Solid logic, but Stinger hated being in charge of this.<br/><br/>Stinger was keeping a careful eye on Naga. He was capable in a fight, more than Stinger would have originally thought, but he had some old injuries that were causing him pain.<br/><br/>He could hardly believe only a week had passed since he got Naga and Balance out of the Space Dragon Palace.<br/><br/>That first day had been hard. Naga had been too anxious to eat and slept most of the day. At dinner time, Stinger got Raptor to help him gang up on Naga and convince him that he needed some nutrients to help settle his stomach. So they got him to the infirmary and got him some hydration and nutrients infusions. A little while after those, Naga felt better. Spada had prepared him a regular vegetarian dinner, a little on the bland side, but he didn’t want to upset his stomach. (Smart. Stinger was grateful Spada thought of things like that.) Took Naga way longer to eat than he had back at the palace, but he slowly got through all the food.<br/><br/>That first evening, Naga had been in the infirmary for his medical check. Raptor had a well-equipped infirmary, so everything she did was cutting edge—non-invasive, no pain. After dinner, Stinger got Naga off to the infirmary, but ran into Balance a few minutes later in the hallway near the living quarters. Balance was holding Naga’s bear.<br/><br/>“Naga wants you,” Balance said, handing him the bear. (Naga had left the bear in his room on their way to the infirmary before dinner.)<br/><br/>Stinger blinked. “Did he say that?”<br/><br/>Balance made an exasperated noise. “I translated what he said, okay?”<br/><br/>Stinger gave Balance a long-suffering look. “What did he actually say?”<br/><br/>“He said he wanted his bear.” Stinger gave Balance another long look, which made him squirm, but then he added, “Then he said he wondered if you two could talk before bedtime.” Balance waved his arms. “And then he said he wished you were there with him.”<br/><br/><em>Gods, Naga</em>.<br/><br/>“Okay,” Stinger had said. “I’ll go take care of him.” He started towards the infirmary.<br/><br/>“Hey Stinger?” He turned back towards Balance. “I don’t know what it is about you that Naga likes, but he has a lot of faith in you. Took me weeks to get him to fully trust me. He trusted you in a couple of hours. Don’t fuck it up, okay?”<br/><br/>“I don’t plan on it,” Stinger muttered.<br/><br/>Turned out, Naga had white coat hypertension. He got anxious and stressed around doctors or medical situations. Once Stinger got to the infirmary that first night and got Naga his bear, Naga’s blood pressure went down a little and Raptor was able to complete her scan in minutes. Naga gave permission for Stinger to stay while Raptor told him the results. He was underweight and needed to work on building up some muscle mass again. He had old injuries to his left hip and right shoulder that were technically healed, but could be corrected with nanobots in a pod at Rebellion headquarters. Other than the anxiety making his blood pressure high and those things, Naga was fine. Raptor wanted him to eat a higher calorie count for a while and Spada would help with that. She also wanted him to start regular sessions with a Rebellion therapist. Stinger had done those for a while, was thinking of starting again, and reassured Naga that an objective third party to talk to was a good thing.<br/><br/>Naga refused to travel to Rebellion headquarters to get the old injuries corrected, but he agreed to the other things that Raptor recommended.<br/><br/>Stinger watched the training exercises carefully.<br/><br/>Naga was favoring his right leg, which meant the other leg was hurting him. And in spite of being right-handed, he’d moved his sickle (his weapon of choice when changed into a Kyuranger) to his left hand. Practicing in a non-dominant hand was always good—Scorpion warriors were taught to avoid a dominant side from a young age, so Stinger could handle his spear in either hand. (He could also technically write with either hand, but his handwriting was neater with his right hand.) Naga didn’t need to switch to a non-dominant side. This exercise was about quickly cutting through the artificial and mass-produced Jark Matter minions. The idea being they save their strength for the governor or higher official that was coming in the battle.<br/><br/>“How are Naga’s migraines?” Stinger asked Raptor softly.<br/><br/>She looked worried. “He’s had three in the last week. Doctor Miyuki wants me to keep an eye on them, but she can’t find a root cause.”<br/><br/>“Does she think they might be psychosomatic?”<br/><br/>“Even if they are, the pain is very real.” Raptor shook her head. Stinger had some theories, mostly because Naga seemed to get migraines when he was completely overwhelmed and desperately needed to be by himself for a while. In spite of traveling with Balance for a couple of months before getting caught, Naga didn’t understand a lot of social situations and didn’t know how to excuse himself. (He thought he was being rude if he left early.) Stinger knew his therapist was working with him on those things, and Stinger tried to help where he could.<br/><br/>And Naga slept in Stinger’s bed every night.<br/><br/>That first night, they’d gotten back from the infirmary in the evening and Stinger formally took Naga to his quarters. A little bit smaller than Stinger’s with a single bed, but all the standard issue furniture and bedding was there. Raptor even had towels and toiletries in the bathroom, with a small amount of workout clothes available. They’d put the clothes Stinger made for him in the room before dinner.<br/><br/>Stinger explained everything, where the climate controls were, the bathroom, the fact that the galley was just down the hall and there was a replicator for drinks and snacks. Naga had nodded almost absently at everything, running one finger down the bedding. “You have your Seiza Blaster and a datapad. Raptor will help program the Seiza Blaster in the morning, but she tried to get all your accounts before your Jark Matter sentence back online. Just need your thumbprint on the datapad.”<br/><br/>“Thank you,” Naga had said softly.<br/><br/>“Thank Raptor. She’s a genius when it comes to that stuff.” Stinger gently squeezed his hand. “Raptor will help you requisition more clothes in the morning. She can get us most anything under requisition—as long as it contributes to our work as Kyurangers, Rebellion covers it. And Raptor is good at telling that story for anything we want within reason.”<br/><br/>“I could get a music player?” Naga whispered.<br/><br/>“You can. Just ask Raptor, no matter how weird it is. She’ll find it.” He paused. “Rebellion also pays us a pretty decent salary, but we don’t have living expenses, so you can save quite a bit.” Stinger’s bank accounts were pitiful by Space Dragon Palace standards, but he thought he’d put back a tidy nest egg over the last two years.<br/><br/>Naga nodded.<br/><br/>Stinger moved a little closer to him. “Why don’t you take a shower and try to get some sleep? You still look exhausted.”<br/><br/>“I’m sorry about everything,” Naga said solemnly and Stinger knew he meant the things since they got back on the ship. “I thought I would be excited to be here, but then I just felt sick.”<br/><br/>“You’re in a new place, with people you don’t know very well.”<br/><br/>“I know Balance. And you.”<br/><br/>“Yes, but there’s lots of people here you don’t. I think what you’re going through is natural. Give yourself some time to adjust.” Stinger gently pulled Naga into a hug, whispering, “Hey, come here.” Naga returned the embrace, clinging to Stinger like he was his only lifeline. “Listen to me,” Stinger soothed him. “You’re going to be fine. I’ll come get you for breakfast in the morning. And if you need anything before then, I am right next door. Just knock.”<br/><br/>“Anything?”<br/><br/>Stinger stepped back a little bit, studying Naga’s expression. His eyes were wide, a little bloodshot from the erratic sleep that day and the crying, but he also looked fearful. And Stinger didn’t want him to be afraid. “Yes, anything. No matter how small.” He paused. “Everyone here will help you Naga. No judgment. We’ve all been there.”<br/><br/>“Okay.”<br/><br/>They said their good nights and Stinger went back to his own room. Flopping on his bed, he grabbed his datapad and scrolled through his messages. Seven from his mom alone. He typed a quick message back to her, letting her know he was okay, he loved her and he would call her the next day. (And probably get to hear his dad in the background, grumbling about family honor. His dad had taken Scorpio’s betrayal pretty hard, but some of his grouching was just absurd. Tarnish the family name? His parents made jerky and repaired speeders for a living. What family name?)<br/><br/>He took a quick shower and changed into his sleep clothes.<br/><br/>He had been lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, thoughts jumbled, when someone knocked on his door. He hadn’t turned out the lights or been serious about getting to sleep yet anyways. And that was likely Naga, which turned out to be correct when he opened the door. Naga had showered (hair damp and Stinger could smell the soap) and was wearing the lounge clothes Stinger made for him, including the sweater, and holding his bear. He looked distressed, but also determined.<br/><br/>“Naga,” Stinger breathed, “Come in,” and ushered him into the room. “What’s wrong?” he asked once the doors slid shut behind him.<br/><br/>“Can I sleep beside you?”<br/><br/>Stinger blinked, understanding the request, but not really understanding why. Did Naga not want space or a bed all to himself? He did not know what kind of quarters Naga had back at the Space Dragon Palace, but couldn’t have been anything very nice, nor anything private. Naga could lock his room here and let no one else in. “Of course,” he said quickly, “but why, Naga?”<br/><br/>Naga blinked, lower lip trembling a little. He took a deep breath and said, “The nights I slept next to you were the only ones where nothing happened to me. I felt safe.” Stinger wasn’t going to point out semantics, but he had been in and out of his room all day while Naga slept earlier (mostly checking on Naga.) Tears started escaping when Naga added, “If we weren’t with a client, the guards did what they wanted. They weren’t supposed to, but no one stopped them. Every night—” but Naga stopped himself. He looked up at Stinger and just said, “I’m sorry if it’s too much.”<br/><br/>“No,” Stinger said firmly. “It’s not too much. Much of my childhood was spent living in a tent with the rest of my family. I do not mind if you sleep in the same bed as me.” He gave Naga another quick hug, releasing him, and then said, “Take a deep breath.” He did what he wanted Naga to do, trying to get him to copy him. And Naga did after a moment.<br/><br/>Naga was asleep the moment Stinger settled in bed next to him.<br/><br/>Now, Stinger called for a break in the training exercise and turned off the simulation sensors. The remaining minions disappeared and everyone stopped, going to get their water bottles and sit down for a moment. Raptor tapped her datapad, sending some results over to Stinger and Champ. She then went to join the others for the break.<br/><br/>“What do you think?” Stinger asked Champ mildly.<br/><br/>“I think Balance and Lucky take their lucky shots for granted and they need to work on accuracy and skill. Garu is fine up close, needs some range polishing. Hammie is a great shinobi, but punches badly. Spada and Raptor just need practice. Naga’s got to get those old injuries seen to. That’s all that’s really holding him back.”<br/><br/>Stinger pushed out a breath. “That’s going to take a lot of convincing.”<br/><br/>Champ clapped his shoulder in an annoying affectionate way. “I think you and Balance can convince him. At any rate, he needs to stop for today. Alternate heat and cold on those injuries and just rest. He’ll hurt himself worse if he continues today.”<br/><br/>He didn’t really want to admit that Champ was spot-on about everyone, but especially Naga. His security training must have included hand-to-hand combat. He watched as Naga got his water bottle and sat down a little away from everyone else, lost in thought. Balance eventually joined him and Naga smiled vaguely and responded to him, but he just looked tired.<br/><br/>Stinger had learned quickly that Naga got overwhelmed with too much choice. Everything was chosen for him in the Ophiuchus System, and Balance seemed to have been the driving force behind most of the decisions in the few months they were thieves. And clearly no choice at the Space Dragon Palace. Spada compensated for that by making food that was especially for Naga, relying on the handful of things he knew to be favorites (anything cinnamon, stir-fry, rice, more recently apples.) Naga got almost paralyzed with decision-making when Raptor asked him to requisition clothes. Stinger found him in the galley, hunched over his datapad, damn-near in tears.<br/><br/>“What’s wrong?” he had asked.<br/><br/>“Raptor told me to requisition clothes, but I don’t know what to pick.”<br/><br/>“Okay, take a breath,” Stinger had replied, sitting down next to him. “Want me to help?”<br/><br/>Naga nodded. And that was key. Sometimes Naga wanted to struggle through something on his own and figure whatever the thing was out. Other times, he wanted help. Stinger always asked. Naga would always confirm if he wanted help or not.<br/><br/>“Let’s just start with the basics,” Stinger said softly. He scrolled to the men’s underwear selections and just flipped through the pictures until Naga pointed at one.<br/><br/>“That’s close to what we have back home.” Stinger added two dozen pairs of the shorts to the order. “That many?” Naga asked.<br/><br/>“Trust me, when we’re gone on missions a lot, laundry will not be your top priority.”<br/><br/>They managed to find undershirts and socks Naga liked. The key to that turned out to be Naga thought he should be able to zero in on what he wanted immediately, and he really just needed someone sitting beside him, letting him know it was all right to just browse until he found something he liked.<br/><br/>The other clothing got more difficult to pick. Pajamas and workout clothes were fine, as was finding a decent pair of sneakers. (And Stinger threw a pair of slippers in the order, because Naga got so cold on the ship.) “You’ll need a few pairs of pants,” Stinger had told him. “And then t-shirts, something long-sleeved, maybe some sweaters. I wouldn’t worry about formal wear too much. Probably a lightweight jacket and one more for snow.”<br/><br/>“What would you order?”<br/><br/>Stinger still mostly dressed in the same style as his home planet, so he wasn’t much of an authority on that. But he still said, “I’d probably get two or three pairs of jeans, some black and maybe gray pants? T-shirts, you can just get a multi-pack of solid-colored ones. Look at the long-sleeved shirts and tell me if you see any that you like.”<br/><br/>He flipped through some options until Naga pointed to a couple he liked. He seemed to go for things in solid colors, clean lines, simple designs. Definitely didn’t like anything loud or flashy. Once they had picked out what Stinger assured Naga was a decent start to the clothes he would need, he added a pair of sturdy boots. “Not for everyday wear,” Stinger explained, “but we get some rugged terrain on missions and the boots will help.” He punched a few prompts and said, “Everything will be here in the cargo bay tomorrow.” Naga looked tired at this point. Stinger gave him a long look before asking, “Have you asked Raptor about the music player yet?”<br/><br/>“No. But it’s okay. I can play music on my datapad.”<br/><br/>“The sound is better on a real player.” Stinger paused. “You want me to ask her?”<br/><br/>“No, I’ll figure it out.”<br/><br/>“Do you need anything else?”<br/><br/>Naga shook his head. Gods, he was so different from Balance, who didn’t even wear clothes and had immediately thought of dozens of things he wanted for his quarters. Stinger had been by Balance’s room when the door was open—already looking lived in and cozy. In contrast, Naga’s room looked like no one actually lived there.<br/><br/>Now, the noise level from the break was getting higher. Champ would take that to mean they needed to start up another simulation and run until lunch. But Stinger needed to get Naga out of here and resting before then. He caught Naga’s eye and motioned him over. Naga got up slowly, wincing as he accidentally put weight on his left leg.<br/><br/>“How are you doing?” Stinger asked.<br/><br/>That tiny shrug again. “I’m fine.”<br/><br/>“You don’t look fine.” Naga tilted his head to one side in confusion. Stinger just gave him a long look. “You’re favoring your right leg and your left arm,” he prompted.<br/><br/>“It’s not that bad.”<br/><br/>“It is if I can see you were favoring sides.”<br/><br/>Naga looked away. His jaw was set, face flushed.<br/><br/>“Hey,” Stinger said softly. “Look at me.” Naga reluctantly met his gaze. “I’m not going to talk about Rebellion headquarters or healing or anything like that today.” A slow nod, and a little bit of the tension seemed to drain from Naga’s face. “But I do not want you to hurt yourself, so you need to spend the rest of the day resting. Alternate hot and cold on your hip and your shoulder.”<br/><br/>Naga sighed. “You really could see that?”<br/><br/>“All the signs are there. Don’t keep pushing yourself when you’re in pain.”<br/><br/>“I just… don’t want to let anyone down.”<br/><br/>“The best way to do that is to take care of yourself.” Stinger gently rested a hand on Naga’s shoulder, stepping a little closer to him. “We want you to be healthy, before anything else.”<br/><br/>“I have to get it corrected, don’t I?” Naga whispered, eyes bright.<br/><br/>“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”<br/><br/>“But I won’t be able to fight, will I?”<br/><br/>“You will. You’ll just have to learn to work around it, and you’ve only had a week. Not enough time to figure out if you can work around it or if you need to have it corrected.”<br/><br/>“What would you do?”<br/><br/>“Naga… I don’t know what I would do. But I do know that whatever you decide to do will be the right choice for you.”<br/><br/>“I’m not good at making choices.”<br/><br/>Stinger smiled. “You’re better at it than you think.” He glanced at his datapad. Raptor had shared some alerts with him—just ship maintenance and crew stuff, but most importantly, she’d given him their incoming cargo manifest. He saw when cargo and packages arrived for the ship and the crew. Which was how he knew a package had arrived for Naga that morning while they were training.<br/><br/>He <em>may</em> have talked to his mom a few days ago and <em>may</em> have told her that Naga didn’t get messages or packages from family and friends back home like the rest of them. Stinger had needed to tell her for a long time that he didn’t necessarily need the things she was sending him. The food was fine, but she still sent little wall hangings or paintings or things that her and his father made. He had lots of that stuff already, but now he knew where she could direct those efforts. And his mom immediately jumped on that idea. <em>“Oh, poor thing. What are his favorite colors? Is he about your build? Does he like button-up sweaters or pull-over? Would he want forest or desert wall hangings?”</em> His only request to his mom had been not to send Naga a patchwork blanket—Stinger was working on one for him. Other than that, everything else was fair game.<br/><br/>“Looks like you have a package in the cargo bay,” Stinger said casually. “Why don’t you go see about that? Then you’ll have time to put some cold packs on before lunch.”<br/><br/>“I have a package?” Naga looked truly confused. “Are you sure?”<br/><br/>Stinger glanced at the day’s manifest. “Says right here you do.”<br/><br/>Naga narrowed his eyes and looked suspicious, but he still left the training room and disappeared into the hallway.<br/><br/>Champ turned the simulator back on.<br/><br/>“All right, people. Let’s go! Moo!”<br/><br/>__________________<br/><br/>Stinger was worried. Spada had left to prepare lunch—said he had already prepared a lot of cold things and just needed to get them out for everyone. He’d even done up a special vegetable and fruit platter for Naga with cheese and crackers. (Naga loved raw fruits and vegetables, would get through a whole bowl by himself if left to his own devices. Spada exploited that regularly by telling Naga he had to get through whatever protein was part of his meal and then he would get fruit salad.) Everyone followed Spada a few minutes later, but Naga hadn’t shown up with the others. And Naga was extremely punctual.<br/><br/>“Looks like he’s still down in the cargo bay,” Raptor said.<br/><br/>“I’ll go get him,” Stinger replied. “He probably lost track of time.”<br/><br/>That wasn’t true, but no one called him out on that. He headed down to the cargo bay and, sure enough, Naga was there. He was sitting on one of the larger crates, holding an afghan and crying softly. Stinger crossed the room to him and sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “Naga,” he said soothingly. “What’s wrong?”<br/><br/>“Your mom sent me a package,” Naga mumbled, leaning close to Stinger.<br/><br/>“I know,” he said warmly, rubbing Naga’s shoulder. “What was in it?”<br/><br/>“This,” Naga replied, motioning with the afghan. And Stinger had to admit, his mom did a good job. She’d done a striped pattern, crocheted if he was looking correctly, and used brightly colored yarn. Kyuranger colors, in stripes ascending with the colors. Naga seemed to like bright and colorful things. “I don’t know why I’m crying,” he mumbled. “It’s very nice of her. I shouldn’t be crying.”<br/><br/>“Sometimes, people doing nice things can make you cry.”<br/><br/>“Did you ask her to send this to me?”<br/><br/>“No, she thought of that herself.”<br/><br/>“But why? She doesn’t know me.”<br/><br/>“<em>I</em> know you, and I like you a lot. And that’s enough for my mom.” Stinger smiled, gently nudging Naga. “What else did she send you?”<br/><br/>“Just this.”<br/><br/>“Naga, if I know my mom, there was way more in that box than the afghan. Trust me.”<br/><br/>He was a little amused, but also just heart-broken on Naga’s behalf when Naga frowned and tugged the box closer to him. The afghan must have been on top and Naga stopped at the blanket. Stinger lowered his arm to Naga’s waist, watching as he pulled more items from the box, surprise and delight growing with each thing. The next thing he pulled out was a pair of gray fingerless gloves. Naga studied them for a long moment, before saying softly, “These would help me keep my hands warm when I work on the systems in engineering.”<br/><br/>There was a wall-hanging, woven into an ocean pattern. “Just for the wall in your room,” Stinger told him when he looked a little confused. “My dad made that—he was always great at weaving.”<br/><br/>If the wall hanging confused Naga, the tiny teddy bear confused him more.<br/><br/>Stinger laughed. Naga stared at him.<br/><br/>“When I was a kid,” he explained, “my mom would make my teddy bear mini versions of whatever I had. If I had a snake plush, she would make a littler one for my bear. Basically, whatever I had, the bear also had. One time she made a tiny bear for my bear.” He shook his head. “She made a tiny bear for <em>your</em> teddy bear.”<br/><br/>“But why?”<br/><br/>Stinger shrugged. “I don’t know. Your bear might get lonely in your room all day.”<br/><br/>“That’s silly. It’s a stuffed animal. It’s not alive.”<br/><br/>“I didn’t quite realize that when I was five, and my mom is never letting that joke go.”<br/><br/>“Your mom seems like a very nice woman.” Naga looked at the little bear and patted its head fondly. “This is nice too.”<br/><br/>Then there was the massive amounts of food. An entire tin with two dozen apple pie cookies (which Naga ate right there, and Stinger was pretty sure Naga would happily eat nothing but those for a while), some vegetable chips (his dad’s new recipe from the Sagittarius System), a huge bag of granola bites, three jars of fruit-flavored jam, homemade wheat bread, and some mini-fruit tarts. Naga looked faintly overwhelmed at all the food in the box.<br/><br/>“I don’t know if I can eat all this,” he said softly.<br/><br/>“We train hard every day and this stuff is way better than what the replicator spits out. I think this will all go pretty fast.”<br/><br/>“I could share with the others?”<br/><br/>“They would like that.” Although Stinger didn’t say that Raptor and Spada would want Naga to eat most of the extra food on his own for now.<br/><br/>Naga was quiet, before he said, “I saw all the others getting packages and knew I wasn’t going to get anything unless I ordered it.” He looked at Stinger. “I sent a message to the Ophiuchus System to my parents… it came back undelivered.”<br/><br/>“I’m sorry.”<br/><br/>“I didn’t expect anything different, but I had hoped…” Naga shook his head. “I don’t know what I hoped for. Everyone else seems so happy with their family and friends, and I’m just… alone.”<br/><br/>Stinger wanted to hug Naga close and never let him go. So he just gently pulled him into an embrace. “You’re not alone,” he whispered. “I know we’re not the same as your relatives, but we’re working on becoming a family. Spada will make sure of that.” He felt Naga smile against his shoulder. “But we all care about you, and I think my mom wants to adopt you.” He exhaled. “I just don’t want you to think you’re alone in the universe. Lots of people care about you.”<br/><br/>He pulled away from the embrace just a little. Naga had completely stopped crying. He looked calmer, pleased, just a little bit more at peace with the world. His silver eyes darted to Stinger’s lips and then back to his eyes. Hells, Stinger knew Naga hadn’t forgotten about their kiss. <em>He</em> hadn’t forgotten about their kiss, but he was hoping… he didn’t even know what he was hoping for. Some cosmic sign that kissing Naga was okay? Naga seemed to be providing that sign with no problems right now. He had no idea what in the world he was waiting for.<br/><br/>So he closed the distance between them, catching Naga’s lips in a chaste, close-mouthed and ultimately sweet kiss. All the emotions from their first kiss came flooding back, and Naga pressed a little bit closer, returning the kiss, making a pleased noise in the back of his throat. He could feel Naga’s hand griping his shirt, frantic heartbeat matching his own. A flush rose in the back of his neck, and he could feel Naga’s skin heating up under his touch. They broke apart for just a moment to breath, and then he caught Naga open-mouthed, deepening the kiss, feeling all that fire and electricity run down his spine. Naga’s noise got a little louder and he pressed as close as he could, practically in Stinger’s lap.<br/><br/>There was a buzzing in Stinger’s ears as they broke apart. Naga rested his forehead against Stinger’s, breathing ragged.<br/><br/>“Stinger?”<br/><br/>“Yeah Naga?”<br/><br/>“I still want to have sex with you.”<br/><br/>“So do I.”<br/><br/>“Do we have to wait or…”<br/><br/>“No. We can whenever we want to.”<br/><br/>“So we can have sex tonight?”<br/><br/>“If you want to.”<br/><br/>“I do.”<br/><br/>_________________<br/><br/>That night was the most emotionally intense experience of Stinger’s life.<br/><br/>They’d gone back to Stinger’s room after dinner. Between the package and resting that afternoon, Naga had seemed less anxious, perhaps even a touch cheerful. He watched the training session that afternoon, and then ran diagnostics on some of the ship’s systems for Raptor. (Who had already said that Naga’s working knowledge of space engineering was better than even hers.) Everyone had been tired by dinner, but in a good mood, lots of laughter and chatter over the meal. Tiny things like that made Spada happy, and he kept pressing more food on everyone.<br/><br/>Naga gently took Stinger’s hand after dinner and they went back to his room.<br/><br/>For a brief moment, he thought getting started might be awkward. But Naga gently nudged him into sitting on the edge of the bed and climbed into his lap, arms wound around his neck. He leaned in, settling for just the slightest brush of his lips against Stinger’s. He returned the embrace, wrapping an arm around Naga’s waist and pulling him completely into his lap. Naga smiled against his lips, shifting and getting a little more comfortable. Stinger got a hand under Naga’s shirt, touching the cool skin on his back. Naga’s smile grew and he leaned in, starting a hot, open-mouthed kiss that Stinger eagerly responded to, plundering his mouth, tasting him thoroughly and completely. A flush crept down his face and back, and Naga’s skin was getting warm under the attention. Gods, he was already semi-hard from just a kiss and knew Naga could feel that arousal. He was pleased to note the interest Naga’s body was definitely showing too.<br/><br/>They broke apart to breathe, and Naga said huskily, “I like this. This is… good.”<br/><br/>Stinger captured his lips for a quick kiss before whispering, “It’s going to get better.”<br/><br/>As much as he could deny otherwise when trying to look cool, Stinger’s experience with relationship and sex was fairly limited and pretty vanilla. He’d never really been in a relationship before where he was acutely aware of how much he wanted to bring his partner pleasure. Sure, he’d thought about that before, but those were more about give and take, mutual benefit. He wanted Naga to enjoy this experience, get what he wanted from this.<br/><br/>He firmly wrapped an arm around Naga’s waist and lifted him just a bit, moving him quickly. Naga landed on his back on the bed with a small <em>oof</em>, affectionately pushing Stinger’s hair from his eyes. Stinger climbed over his body, one knee between his legs.<br/><br/>“Aren’t we supposed to take our clothes off?” Naga asked, head tilted to one side in his signature expression of confusion.<br/><br/>“Yes,” Stinger confirmed with a grin. He sat up a little and stripped his own shirt off. Naga studied him with that intense gaze of his. They’d seen each other naked before, but Naga was clearly taking in the moment. He reached out, fingers gently moving across his abdomen, like they were memorizing every muscle, every scar, everything that made Stinger unique. Naga bit his lip for just a second, before he sat up just enough to take off his own shirt.<br/><br/>Naga was lean and pale as always. Just one week of proper food and exercise, and he was already looking less underweight. His skin was smooth, no body hair to be found, and in the right light, the faint pattern of scales was visible. Stinger ran a hand down his chest. No visible scars, but Naga clearly had things healed, because Stinger could feel the traces of those old wounds. All those pieces that came together and brought Naga to where he was today. Stinger wanted to erase all the pain and trauma, wished like hells that Naga hadn’t had to experience those things. Words were caught in his throat, so he leaned down and kissed Naga instead.<br/><br/>Tiny, pleased noises were coming out of Naga, and he shifted in anticipation underneath him. Then Naga’s hands were on his belt, undoing it and then moving to his button and fly. Stinger grinned into the kiss, “Eager?” he asked.<br/><br/>Naga kissed him and muttered, “Just take these off.”<br/><br/>Stinger made short work of his pants and shorts, and then helped Naga undo his own, kicking the garments off and on the floor. Nothing between them now, Stinger came back to Naga, gently kissing him. Naga got an ankle around the back of his knee, pulling him closer. Then Stinger fully realized how their positions had changed when getting undressed. He was completely between Naga’s legs. Naga leaned back against the pillow, spreading his legs a little in a clear invitation.<br/><br/>He rested his forehead against Naga’s. “Not right away,” he said softly.<br/><br/>“Stinger…”<br/><br/>“I know you want to. Just… it’s really too soon for me. After everything I know you went through. We’ll do something else tonight. Trust me, it will feel good.”<br/><br/>Naga nodded. “Okay. That’s good.” His eyes seemed to bore into Stinger for a moment when he added, “You need to want to too.” He shifted a little against the bed, wrapping his arms around Stinger’s shoulders. “Can we stay like this though? I kind of like this.”<br/><br/>“Of course we can.”<br/><br/>Stinger pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and then moved down to his jaw. Naga tilted his head back, giving Stinger more access as he pressed open-mouthed kissed down his neck and to his collarbone. He took a moment there to suck a mark into Naga’s skin. A loud groan came out of Naga and his hips bucked up, meeting Stinger’s. He glanced between their bodies, taking in the gorgeous sight of Naga completely hard and ready to go, erection curling towards his stomach. Naga’s expression was pure want and bliss, eyes hooded, hands frantically moving down Stinger’s arm, not entirely sure what to do with himself. He got another kiss just underneath Naga’s collarbone, and then down his chest, finally ducking down to one nipple, paying attention just a little. Naga made a noise deep in the back of his throat.<br/><br/>He moved up, kissing Naga properly again. Naga eagerly responded to the kiss, one hand threaded through his hair. “I’m going to touch you now,” he whispered. “Is that okay?”<br/><br/>Naga nodded.<br/><br/>The rest was a blur of heat and pleasure. He lowered his hips so their erections were touching, and Naga moaned at that sensation. Reaching down, he grasped both of them at once, getting a good rhythm going. Naga was completely undone at that sensation, hands gripping Stinger’s shoulders, back completely off the bed. He was close, they were both so close. Naga gasped, body tense.<br/><br/>“It’s okay,” Stinger whispered, pressing his forehead to Naga’s. “Just let go. Let go, you’re going to be fine. Naga…”<br/><br/>One sharp breath and Naga came, spilling between their bodies.<br/><br/>Stinger followed him over the edge a moment later.<br/><br/>Breathing rough, he moved to Naga’s side, and Naga immediately curled against him. “I should get a towel,” he mumbled.<br/><br/>“You should stay here,” Naga muttered back, wrapping an arm around his waist.<br/><br/>Everything was silent for a few moments, the roaring in Stinger’s ears clearing.<br/><br/>“Stinger?” He made a noise that said he was listening. “You said sex is consensual, right?”<br/><br/>“Yes,” he replied.<br/><br/>“I think that’s the first time I’ve had sex.”<br/><br/>Stinger didn’t have words. He just wrapped both arms around Naga and held him close. Naga snuggled against him, returning the embrace.<br/><br/>They had come so far and had so far to go.<br/><br/>Stinger desperately wanted <em>time</em>. Time for Naga to heal, to rest, to figure out what normal was for him.<br/><br/>And time was the one thing that Jark Matter wasn’t giving them.<br/><br/><em>To be continued...</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>One more chapter left! Thanks for all the lovely comments and kudos! Let me know you're out there, either here or on tumblr! With the final chapter update, I'll do an informal poll for new Kyuranger ideas. You all are the best readers! Thank you so much!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Home Amongst the Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Something was bothering Naga.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here we go, last chapter! Naga does talk a little bit about what happened at the Space Dragon Palace.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>5/Home Amongst the Stars<br/><br/></strong>Something was bothering Naga. He hadn’t said anything, but Stinger could see the tension brewing. The way his bear had made more public appearances, especially at meals or during card games in the evening. The way Naga was just a tiny bit disoriented in the morning, taking longer to find his shoes or the sweater he wanted. The way he moved food around on his plate, but didn’t actually eat much during meals. The way he chewed the inside of his lip, like he was distracted, turning over lots of information in his head.<br/><br/>The bear wasn’t <em>that</em> unusual. Naga usually felt pretty raw after talking to his therapist, so the bear went places with him after those sessions (which were about every other day.)<br/><br/>Two weeks had passed since they made love. They hadn’t done anything remotely close to that since, maybe made out a few times, but Naga had gotten a lot more comfortable seeking out physical affection from Stinger. Holding his hand, leaning against him, even just getting a hug—Naga was proactive about asking for that kind of touch.<br/><br/>After dinner, Lucky asked them if they wanted to play cards in the galley with a few of the others.<br/><br/>“No,” Stinger said curtly, before catching himself and softening with, “I’ve just had a headache all day. Probably going to turn in early.”<br/><br/>Lucky turned eagerly to Naga, who just said, “No, thank you.”<br/><br/>“If you change your minds, you know where to find us!”<br/><br/>And Lucky bounded off.<br/><br/>“Can we talk about something, Stinger?” Naga said softly.<br/><br/>“Sure.”<br/><br/>“Privately.”<br/><br/>Stinger nodded, trying not to feel anxious about whatever Naga wanted to talk about. He never talked about what happened to him at the Space Dragon Palace, not even to Balance. Stinger knew he was the only one that had any insight into exactly what Naga had been through (although Balance could imagine, and the others knew what kind of place that was.) Naga wanting to talk could span from trying to parse what was normal from his experiences at the palace, all the way to him wanting to ask about something simple and feeling silly doing so in front of the others. For the latter, no one had never made fun of Naga or even given the slightest hint that they found his questions silly or irritating, but that didn’t stop him from being self-conscious.<br/><br/>They went back to Stinger’s room.<br/><br/>Naga sat on the edge of the bed, wringing his hands. He grabbed his bear from the pillow.<br/><br/>Stinger sat down in his desk chair, facing Naga. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.<br/><br/>Naga exhaled harshly, then looked up, not quite meeting Stinger’s gaze. “I think I should sleep in my own bed for a while,” he ground out, like he didn’t really want to say the words.<br/><br/><em>That</em> gave Stinger pause. For three weeks, Naga had slept in his bed. His bear and his patchwork blanket (that Stinger had made for him) lived mostly in Stinger’s room, unless Naga got the bear for another reason or brought the blanket to the rec room for a move night. Naga didn’t sleep under the blanket, just generally held the blanket along with his bear. And he’d been sleeping well with this arrangement. But <em>Stinger </em>had gotten used to him being there. And he didn’t want Naga to go because he rather liked having another person next to him at night.<br/><br/>But Naga did have his own room. And his therapist had to have been working with him on decision-making and independence. Maybe this was something she’d asked him to try. Trying couldn’t hurt, right? And Naga could always get him if he woke up and was scared (or had a nightmare), right? Stinger wanted to be selfish here, wanted to ask Naga to reconsider, but he’d also promised himself that he would give Naga the space and support he needed to figure things out, whatever that looked like.<br/><br/>“Okay,” Stinger said slowly, then asked carefully, “Are you sure?”<br/><br/>A shaky breath came out of Naga. “Not really.”<br/><br/>“But you want to try anyways?” Stinger prompted.<br/><br/>Naga nodded.<br/><br/>“What do you need me to do?”<br/><br/>Now, Naga looked directly at him. “Do?” he asked, head tilted to one side.<br/><br/>“Yeah,” Stinger replied. “You know, like come by and say good night to you. Stay with you until you fall asleep. Stuff like that.”<br/><br/>Naga chewed the inside of his lip. Stinger could see the thoughts tumbling around in his head. He had to think about what he wanted. That was okay. They had time for him to decide. “Can you come sing for me?” Naga asked softly.<br/><br/>“Of course.” Stinger just sang songs from his home planet that he’d known since childhood. Everyone on his home planet knew them. And Naga seemed to like them a lot. He fell asleep after only a song or two from Stinger.<br/><br/>“Can you also come with me to have tea and a snack before bed?”<br/><br/>Snack time around here was always for Naga’s benefit. He had good days, where he happily ate all the food Spada prepared for him and then more. He also had bad days where he couldn’t even choke down the bare minimum. He wasn’t gaining weight like Raptor and Doctor Miyuki wanted, and on the bad days, no one really cared what Naga ate as long as he ate <em>something</em>. That’s when Stinger was eternally grateful his mother was sending Naga a weekly package, loaded with food that Naga loved. He would get Naga to get his snacks from the food storage box in his room, and bring them to the galley to eat something. Even if that something was a couple of pieces of wheat toast with jam and an apple pie cookie. Something was better than nothing in this case.<br/><br/>And Naga loved the tea that Stinger’s mom had been sending. (She’d taken to sending Naga messages too, even emphasizing he didn’t need to respond right away or at all. She just wanted him to know someone was thinking about him.)<br/><br/>“Yes,” Stinger replied quickly. “What time do you want to get tea?”<br/><br/>“Nine.”<br/><br/>“Okay. We’ll go get tea at nine.”<br/><br/>Naga nodded. He let out a breath and then wrinkled his nose slightly.<br/><br/>“What’s wrong?” Stinger prompted.<br/><br/>“I don’t want to go play cards and I finished all my work.”<br/><br/>Stinger smiled a little. “Are you complaining about having nothing to do before bed?”<br/><br/>“No,” Naga said stubbornly, because he would never admit to being bored or wanting help finding something to do. “I just haven’t found any books or shows I like,” he ended with a small shrug.<br/><br/>“Maybe you need to take up a hobby?”<br/><br/>“A hobby?” The head tilt of confusion came back.<br/><br/>“You know, like I sew or knit, and make things for people.”<br/><br/>Naga perked up. “Maybe you could teach me that.”<br/><br/>“Which one?”<br/><br/>He thought for a moment. “The yarn one.”<br/><br/>“Sure. Let me get a bigger crochet hook for you to start with, and I’ll show you some of the basics to get going.”<br/><br/>And that choice made sense, because Naga adored the afghan his mother made. He had the blanket spread out on the bed in his room, and liked to stare at the colors when he was alone there. Stinger grabbed one of his larger crochet hooks and selected a thicker yarn from his stash. (And if he told his mom Naga was interested in learning, she’d send some good beginner yarn. She was really good at teaching people.) Stinger didn’t consciously remember learning any of the handcrafts, just knew how to do them from an extremely young age. Granted, as he got older, his stitches were smaller and neater, his projects for everyday use lasted longer. Been a while since Stinger attempted to teach anyone this and he knew Naga learned best by watching and then doing. So he demonstrated some stitches slowly, and Naga copied him, eventually getting a chain. Then he moved on to showing Naga the next row.<br/><br/>By nearly nine, Naga had managed a messy rectangle and was concentrating <em>hard</em> on those rows, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. Stinger hated to interrupt him, because he was successfully distracted by this, but he also knew Naga’s therapist and doctor wanted him to keep a regular routine. They thought that would help him feel more balanced. Stinger couldn’t say for sure it did work, but he knew days Naga went off the routine were days he ate less.<br/><br/>He gently stopped Naga when he got to the end of the row, telling him he could take the yarn and crochet hook with him. And sent him off to take a shower.<br/><br/>No point in waiting, Stinger took his own shower, and then went to Naga’s room to collect him for tea and snacks. Naga was ready to go, wearing the pajamas Stinger made him with his sweater and slippers. He had the tin of tea, and the snacks he’d selected—a strawberry tart and two apple pie cookies. The galley was empty and quiet when they got there, and Stinger knew this routine by heart. He grabbed two mugs and the honey from the cupboard, and then put the electric kettle on to boil. Naga put the tea into infusers and into the mugs. Then the water would boil and Stinger would pour the water in the mugs. They waited a few minutes and then drank the tea.<br/><br/>Stinger had to admit, this tea was good, and he was not a tea drinker.<br/><br/>Naga was quiet as they drank their tea. He absently broke tiny bits of crust off the tart.<br/><br/>“I think you should eat that and not deconstruct it,” Stinger said warmly.<br/><br/>That made Naga blink and look at the tart. He frowned, like he hadn’t realized what he was doing. He sighed. “I’m not sure I can eat what I brought anymore.”<br/><br/>“If you eat half, I’ll eat the other half.”<br/><br/>“Okay.” That meant one cookie and half a tart. Naga could manage that much.<br/><br/>And he did.<br/><br/>They put up their dishes and made their way back to their rooms.<br/><br/>Naga had gotten his bear and blanket before his shower, so both those items were in his room. He didn’t question Stinger following him into his room. Naga put the tea in his food storage box. And once again, Stinger was struck by how minimal Naga’s room was. Even with the little things his parents had made for him (which, granted, was mostly clothing), he only had the small wall hanging and the mini teddy bear on his nightstand. Outside of the charging station for his datapad on his desk, the only other thing on surfaces was a lamp. Naga had plenty of opportunities to requisition other things, but hadn’t. And Stinger knew he still wanted that music player.<br/><br/>“You ready for me to sing?”<br/><br/>Naga nodded quickly.<br/><br/>“Okay,” Stinger replied. “Get in bed. Get comfortable.”<br/><br/>He watched as Naga kicked off his slippers, leaving them beside his bed. He left the sweater on (no surprise, Naga was constantly cold) and got under the covers. He had the standard issue duvet, plus the afghan and his blanket spread over him. He grabbed his bear, settling to one side. Stinger turned off the overhead lights. When he got to the lamp, Naga said softly, “Can you leave that on low, please?”<br/><br/>“Sure,” he responded, but that made a pang shoot to his stomach. Naga never had any issues sleeping in the dark in Stinger’s room. But if he needed a night light here, that’s what he needed. No judgement. (Spada never slept with the lights off, but Stinger figured that was poor planning around sleep time rather than genuine need—Spada liked to read or be on his datapad until he fell asleep in the middle of whatever he was doing.)<br/><br/>Lights on low, Stinger sat on the edge of Naga’s bed and began singing. Naga closed his eyes, breathing slowly evening out. After a second song, he was completely asleep. Stinger smiled, gently brushing his hair away from his eyes. He left the room as quietly as he could.<br/><br/>His own room seemed too big and lonely without Naga there.<br/><br/>He got into bed and turned the lights off.<br/><br/>Gods, how was he going to get to sleep tonight?<br/><br/>------------------<br/><br/>Stinger jerked awake.<br/><br/>There was a soft knock on his door.<br/><br/>Without thinking, he glanced at the time. <em>2:03</em> in the morning. What in the hells? He didn’t remember falling asleep last night, but he must have.<br/><br/>Another knock, then he heard, “Stinger?”<br/><br/><em>Naga</em>.<br/><br/>He swore internally and immediately got out of bed, opening the door.<br/><br/>Naga was standing in the hallway, bear pulled to his chest, breathing harshly and crying. More internal swearing as he ushered Naga into his room and turned on a low light. He immediately pulled Naga into a hug. Naga wrapped his free arm around him, huddling close as he tried to control his tears. “Stinger,” he ground out, voice rough.<br/><br/>“It’s okay,” Stinger soothed. “It’s okay. You’re fine.”<br/><br/>He gently sat Naga down on the edge of the bed, brushing his hair from his face. He sat down next to him, gently wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Naga leaned against his side, head on his shoulder.<br/><br/>“Did you have a nightmare?” Stinger whispered.<br/><br/>Naga nodded against his shoulder.<br/><br/>“Want to talk about it?”<br/><br/>“I don’t know.”<br/><br/>Stinger was quiet for a moment, when he asked, “Was it the Space Dragon Palace?”<br/><br/>Naga bit back a sob. “Yes,” he mumbled. He sniffed and adjusted his grip on his bear. “I was there… with Cirroc… like I was reliving that last night before you got me out.”<br/><br/>“Like a memory instead of a dream?”<br/><br/>“Yes. I don’t <em>want</em> to remember, especially that night.”<br/><br/>Stinger’s heart was pounding. “You said you thought he was going to kill you.”<br/><br/>“He would have. He’s… violent. I was the fifth or sixth one he’d gone through. Everyone talked. Once Cirroc got a taste for you, you only lasted a few nights with him. Five at the most. I was on night four with him when you came.”<br/><br/>“Naga…”<br/><br/>“He just liked to hurt you. At some point I didn’t really know what he was doing, just that he was still hurting me.” Naga snuggled a little closer to Stinger. “He <em>would</em> have killed me. I was so thankful you came. Before I knew you were a Kyuranger, I thought maybe I could become your favorite. Clients could request someone only be used for them, for a price. Wouldn’t stop the guards, but would have saved me from someone like Cirroc.”<br/><br/>“Gods, <em>Naga</em>.” Stinger wrapped both arms around him, holding him close. Hammie and Garu had tracked a governor to the Space Dragon Palace, where he apparently liked to spend his down time. If they could evacuate everyone being held against their will and get them to a Rebellion refugee facility… he wanted to pull the trigger when they blew that place up. Although he was more than willing to give Naga that honor. But missions and blowing up the place that caused Naga so much pain was not going to fix anything right now.<br/><br/>Stinger whispered against the top of his head, “Do you just want to stay here the rest of the night?”<br/><br/>“Please,” Naga said through a sob.<br/><br/>“Take a deep breath.”<br/><br/>Naga tried to comply, then asked, “Are Hammie and Garu going to get everyone out of that place?”<br/><br/>“They’re going to try.”<br/><br/>“Raptor said I can’t go because of my injuries.”<br/><br/><em>And Doctor Miyuki says you can’t go because you’re still healing from the trauma</em>, Stinger filled in, but didn’t say those words aloud. Naga knew.<br/><br/>“Naga,” Stinger started. “I know it’s hard not to think of that. Gods, I know.”<br/><br/>“But I have to sleep now?”<br/><br/>“We can stay up if you want.”<br/><br/>“No, I’m tired.”<br/><br/>“Okay.”<br/><br/>Stinger didn’t say anything as he got them both situated under the covers, and left the low light on. Mostly for Naga’s benefit, but he was unsettled by some of what Naga revealed. Not Naga’s fault at all. He couldn’t help any of the things he’d been through. Naga immediately snuggled up against Stinger’s side, bear pressed between their bodies. In a few short moments, Naga was asleep again. Stinger watched Naga sleep for a while, eventually drifting off himself.<br/><br/>----------------<br/><br/>They were both dragging the next morning.<br/><br/>Naga practically fell asleep at the breakfast table, not even pretending to eat anything. Stinger nursed a mug of coffee. Naga only perked up when Raptor came in, and asked how Hammie’s and Garu’s mission was going. She just confirmed they were successfully undercover.<br/><br/>“Stinger, the rec room replicator isn’t working right? Can you look into it?” Raptor asked.<br/><br/>He nodded. Darn thing was always on the fritz. No wonder Naga preferred the food his mom sent.<br/><br/>“Naga…” Raptor looked concerned at how tired he was. “How about you look into the main computer maintenance with Balance?”<br/><br/>The day seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly, but then Stinger blinked and they had already attempted to eat dinner, heading into the evening. Naga made a valiant attempt to work on his crocheting, ending up with a slightly larger messy rectangle. They went through the same motions as the previous evening. Showers, then tea, then Stinger singing to Naga (and making sure he was securely under all his blankets.)<br/><br/>Back in his own room, he laid down, expecting Naga to be back in at two in the morning.<br/><br/>----------------<br/><br/>And Naga was. 2:02 in the morning. Same awful dreams.<br/><br/>Same thing happened for the next two nights.<br/><br/>Two in the morning, nightmares.<br/><br/>-----------------<br/><br/>The fifth night, Stinger jerked awake and glanced at the clock. <em>1:53</em> in the morning. He leaned back against his pillow, exhaling. He’d been awake at this time the last four nights, so maybe his body was just saving him the trouble of being woken from a deep sleep by someone else. He went ahead and turned on the low light in his room, watching the time pass on the clock.<br/><br/><em>1:57… 1:59… 2:01</em>…<br/><br/>By ten after, he was worried that he hadn’t heard from Naga yet.<br/><br/>Quarter past, his stomach hurt from anxiety.<br/><br/>Close to 2:30, he got out of bed, niggling thought that something was very wrong with Naga refusing to settle or go away. He went straight to Naga’s room, and knocked softly on the door. “Naga?” he called, trying to keep his voice down to avoid waking the others. “Naga?” he tried again. No response. And the hall was eerie at this hour, silent and still.<br/><br/>Hells, he let himself into Naga’s room.<br/><br/>The low light from the lamp was still on and Naga was in bed, curled into a ball and shivering under the covers. He only had his duvet and afghan over him, because he was holding his blanket to his chest along with his bear. And he was softly crying.<br/><br/>“Hey,” Stinger said, immediately crossing the room and sitting on the edge of the bed. He gently ran his fingers through Naga’s hair, moving his other hand to rub his back.<br/><br/>“Stinger,” Naga replied.<br/><br/>“Another nightmare?” Naga nodded into his pillow. “Why didn’t you come get me? I was worried about you.”<br/><br/>“I <em>was</em> going to get you, but then I stopped. It’s not fair that I keep waking you up.”<br/><br/>“I was already awake.”<br/><br/>“But that’s not the <em>point</em>.” Naga’s was crying a little harder.<br/><br/>“Naga, I said you can always come get me. Any time. For anything. I meant that.” Stinger kept his voice calm and neutral, still rubbing Naga’s back.<br/><br/>“It’s not fair to you.”<br/><br/>Stinger wanted to protest that <em>he</em> got to decide what was and wasn’t fair to him personally, but there was something else at stake here. <em>Something</em> was bothering Naga, had caused him to decide he needed to sleep in his own bed. They hadn’t told the others they were sharing a bed, but they hadn’t exactly hidden that fact either. Had someone said something that made Naga doubt himself? He took a deep breath to steady himself, and asked, “Naga, I need you to explain why you think this isn’t fair to me.”<br/><br/>Naga looked up, shivering hard. “We’re not dating or in a relationship. You’re only supposed to sleep in the same bed as someone if you’re dating them.”<br/><br/>Before he could stop himself, Stinger asked, “Who told you that?” Definitely hadn’t been Garu, who would happily sleep in a pile with other people. Spada and Lucky didn’t care, Champ and Raptor <em>really</em> didn’t care. Hammie might have said something, but he doubted she was that strong with her words. Which left…<br/><br/>“Balance,” Naga mumbled.<br/><br/>Okay. Stinger stopped himself from replying that Balance was a bored, hyperactive three-hundred-year-old mechanical being who had no real idea how organics lived their lives. Balance <em>was</em> Naga’s closest friend, and did care about Naga. He just sometimes said things that Naga either took literally or out of context. Which Stinger hoped this was.<br/><br/>“What did Balance say exactly?”<br/><br/>Naga sniffled. “I was leaving your room one morning and Balance was leaving his room. He asked why I was in your room so early and I said I slept there. And he said that was odd because organics usually only sleep with someone they’re dating or married to.”<br/><br/>“And you thought that meant you should sleep in your own room?”<br/><br/>“I mean… we’re not dating! We only had sex once. And kissed a few times.” Naga sounded oddly defensive about the conclusion he had come to. Oh gods. Stinger just kept rubbing his back in a soothing pattern, feeling Naga relax a little, even if his shivering wasn’t getting better.<br/><br/>“First of all,” Stinger said evenly, “Organics share beds for lots of reasons, and only one of them is because they are in a romantic relationship. Families share the same sleep area on a lot of planets and cultures. I grew up in a tent. My sleep pallet was always right next to my brother’s or my parents’.”<br/><br/>“We don’t ever share beds on my home planet,” Naga mumbled.<br/><br/><em>That</em> didn’t surprise Stinger at all. But yet they bathed together? Interesting.<br/><br/>“Our arrangement was easy. You were scared and asked, and I said yes. There’s not much more to think about than that.”<br/><br/>“Really?” Naga sounded like he was trying hard to wrap his mind around all this new information.<br/><br/>“Really,” Stinger confirmed.<br/><br/>“… but we’re not dating.”<br/><br/>“You keep bringing that up.” Stinger paused for a moment and asked, “Do you want us to be dating?”<br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/><em>Gods</em>. How was Stinger going to phrase this without Naga getting his feelings hurt? “Naga,” he started slowly. “I also would like to be dating you, but I was worried that we were moving a little too fast with the physical relationship and you might need more time to heal.”<br/><br/>“Is that why we’ve only had sex once?”<br/><br/>“Pretty much, yes.”<br/><br/>Naga turned a little, eyes narrowed as he studied him. “My therapist says I should do what I’m comfortable with, and I liked what we did together.”<br/><br/>“Okay, so we’re dating. In a relationship. Whatever. You’re my boyfriend.”<br/><br/>“We haven’t gone on a date,” Naga pointed out.<br/><br/>“Dates are just doing stuff together with no one else there. We do that all the time,” Stinger countered.<br/><br/>Naga thought for a moment. “I guess we do.” He paused. “If we’re dating, I want to have sex and kiss more often.”<br/><br/>“How often?”<br/><br/>Another long moment to think and Naga said definitively, “Sex a couple of times a week. I want to kiss every day. And do the stuff couples do in public. Like kiss to greet each other.”<br/><br/>“Sounds good to me.”<br/><br/>Naga leaned back against his pillow like he’d been expecting an argument or some pushback on his terms. He was still shivering, but moved a little closer to Stinger. “Can we go on a trip?” he asked.<br/><br/>“A trip?”<br/><br/>“Couples go on trips, right?”<br/><br/>“Sure, just… where did you want to go?”<br/><br/>“Skiing.”<br/><br/>“Skiing?”<br/><br/>“Yes.”<br/><br/>“Have you ever been skiing?”<br/><br/>“No.”<br/><br/>“Have you ever been to a planet with snow?”<br/><br/>“No, but skiing looks fun. Balance said we’d try to go and then we got caught.” He pushed out a breath. “I want to go with you now.” He paused. “Not right now,” he clarified. “In a while.”<br/><br/>Naga didn’t seem to do well in the cold and Stinger had a personal distaste for cold climates, but he’d seen enough ads for ski resorts on various planets, from Hammie’s silly web-zines if nothing else. Even the more affordable places had huge hotels and lodges and restaurants, so they could stay in the cold for a while and then sit by a fire to warm Naga up.<br/><br/>“Okay, sure.”<br/><br/>Naga pressed himself against Stinger now. “Can we go sleep in your room? It’s warmer in there.”<br/><br/>Stinger smiled. “It’s actually not. You’re just used to my body heat.” Naga looked faintly puzzled by that, turning that fact over his head. He’d stopped crying and appeared to be calm. Stinger internally shook his head. Once again, all his overthinking was silly. Should have just talked to Naga. But there was one more thing he wanted to ask. “Hey, Naga, what do you think about just moving into my room? You spend all your time in there. Might as well have your things there too.”<br/><br/>“Like moving in together?”<br/><br/>“Something like that.”<br/><br/>“Okay.” Naga sat up and scooted towards the edge of the bed. “I’ll get my stuff tomorrow. Let’s just go to your room now. I’m cold.”<br/><br/><em>Our room</em>. But Stinger didn’t say that aloud. He just took Naga’s hand and tugged him completely out of bed. Naga trailed after him, dragging his bear and his blanket. Soon enough, they were both in Stinger’s bed and Naga was dead asleep.<br/><br/><em>This</em>, being with Naga, made him feel the most centered since his brother’s betrayal and becoming a Kyuranger. So simple, just being with another person. But Naga gave Stinger hope. They future would be all right. <em>They</em> would be all right. Somehow.<br/><br/>-----------------<br/><br/>Three weeks later, Stinger was in one of the engineering bays with Naga and Balance. Their galley replicator was on the fritz—again. Raptor had requisitioned a new one, but as that was a fairly expensive piece of equipment, and they had a chef cooking real food, the request was low priority. But people still wanted their snacks and drinks at night, especially their pre-packaged and processed snacks (which sent Spada into lectures about nutrition and prepared food and the art of cooking. Unfortunately, people tuned Spada out when he delivered those.) So Stinger was up to his elbows in worn and frayed replicator parts, any one of which could be the reason they were getting gray gelatinous blobs instead of chips.<br/><br/>Balance was doing the biweekly maintenance on their various power supplies—there was the main one, the secondary one and the back-up to the secondary. Rebellion wanted triple redundancy and protections in all their ships. In order to replace and tune each supply, Balance had to rotate power (so none of the ship functions glitched, like life support and artificial gravity), turn off one of the supplies, replace parts, run diagnostics and then cycle power again to bring that supply back online. The job was tedious and easy to miss a part. Stinger knew. He’d done that job before.<br/><br/>Naga had returned from Rebellion headquarters two days ago, having finally agreed to go get the old injuries repaired in the nanobot pods. Stinger had gone with him. They were there overnight and returned around lunch time the next day. Doctor Miyuki said the procedure had gone well, but Naga needed to be on light duty for a week, and only do the prescribed exercises she wanted. She also had a lot of other movement restrictions. Basically, didn’t want to risk injuring the newly repaired areas. Naga had studied the list very seriously and asked a lot of thorough questions, some of which made Stinger blush. (<em>“We can have sex, right?”</em>)<br/><br/>“Why is this stupid thing not coming back on?” Balance grumbled, gesturing at the power supply grid he’d just reassembled.<br/><br/>“You didn’t secure all the couplings.”<br/><br/>“Yes, I did!”<br/><br/>“No, you didn’t. That’s why it’s not coming on back.”<br/><br/>Balance stared at Naga. “Okay, bud, there’s no way you can know that, because you are completely across the room, in a cushioned chair, reading enigma novels. You are not looking at this and don’t know that.”<br/><br/>Stinger reached into the replicator, removing more goop that had built up. “I’d listen to him, Balance,” he said. “Doesn’t matter if he’s looking or not, he’s always right.”<br/><br/>“Naga is my best friend, but no one is right all the time.”<br/><br/>“On this, he is. Raptor says his track record is perfect.”<br/><br/>“Okay, fine. Power couplings.” Balance swore a little and re-opened the power grid. After a few moments of tinkering, he closed the panels and hit the controls.<br/><br/>And the power supply came on immediately.<br/><br/>“Told you so,” Naga said. His tone wasn’t as smug as a normal person when saying that phrase. He was looking down at his datapad, but looked up at the last moment, smile tugging at his lips. Naga didn’t like being right, as much as he liked being able to rattle Balance a little. Balance was so good at doing that to other people that Naga gave him a taste of his own medicine every so often.<br/><br/>Stinger laughed as Balance groaned in annoyance. “Now Naga needs to tell me what is wrong with this piece of junk,” he said, grinning.<br/><br/>Without looking up, Naga replied, “The intake tube is loose, the matter container is leaking, and the matter converter is fried. That’s why you keep finding the source matter all over the thing.”<br/><br/>That explained a lot.<br/><br/>“I have a spare converter or two,” Stinger said, more to himself than anything. “And I’ll need a torch to repair cracks in the container.” Plus he would have to figure out some way to tighten the tube. All within his skill set. He’d kept this stupid thing working for much longer than it should have. But they were coming up on lunch time, so he’d continue this ridiculousness after food. He dropped another glob into the bucket near his feet, and then grabbed a sanitizing cloth to clean his hands.<br/><br/>“So you’re really going skiing with Stinger’s parents?” Balance asked Naga.<br/><br/>Naga nodded happily.<br/><br/>“You realize that’s not a romantic couples’ trip anymore, right? Now, it’s a family vacation.”<br/><br/>“I know. It will be fun.”<br/><br/>Stinger wasn’t sure how the idea of bringing his parents on their skiing trip came about, but Naga really liked the idea once he’d talked bout it. And then Stinger mentioned the idea to his mom on a call and everything came together. His parents hadn’t been on a purposeful trip in years, and had begun making better money in the Sagittarius System than they made back home. They had some to spend on a fun trip, and Stinger had some extras as well. They’d picked a mid-range resort on a Rebellion-controlled planet. Adjoining rooms, skiing, hot springs, two dozen restaurants within walking distance, shopping.<br/><br/>“What do you think of all this, Stinger?” Balance asked.<br/><br/>He shrugged. “My dad will fall down the bunny slopes, swear a lot and insist we go every day to get our money’s worth, so it will be hilarious.”<br/><br/>“He won’t swear that much,” Naga said. “Mama won’t let him.”<br/><br/>And that was the other endearing thing that happened. Stinger’s mom had graduated from sending Naga packages and messages to calling him, and they’d had an in depth discussion about how Naga should address her. She finally just said, <em>“Call me what Stinger calls me,”</em> so Naga was now calling her Mama too. Stinger’s dad included things for Naga in the packages, but hadn’t quite got to the same level as his mom. Although he was anticipating Naga calling him Papa by the end of the trip.<br/><br/>Stinger suppressed a laugh. “Lunch time,” he announced instead.<br/><br/>“Great,” Balance said with faux sarcasm. “Now we get to witness Naga get special treatment at meal times.”<br/><br/>“I do not get special treatment.”<br/><br/>“You’ve been getting ice cream with every meal since you got back!”<br/><br/>“I don’t get ice cream with breakfast,” Naga pointed out.<br/><br/>Balance threw up his hands. “Sorry, my mistake!” he said with a teasing lilt.<br/><br/>“I had surgery,” Naga replied. “Spada says I get special treats because I had surgery.”<br/><br/>“You did not have surgery. You sat in a nanobot pod for an hour and talked to your bear about how much you like your boyfriend.”<br/><br/>“I like having a boyfriend,” was the delicate reply.<br/><br/>“Did he take you out when you were at Rebellion headquarters?”<br/><br/>“Yes! We got a lot of good food, and brought some back!”<br/><br/>Stinger smiled. Rebellion headquarters was in an old college campus, upgraded to meet their specifications. And because Rebellion had so many personnel, a lot of restaurants and stores had sprung up around the campus. They arrived in the morning, and Doctor Miyuki had said Naga had no restrictions on what he could eat before nanobot treatment. And since the treatment was in the afternoon, they’d gone to the outskirts of the campus to see what they could find to eat. A little food stall was right outside. He had all the ingredients out and people could pick what they wanted, he’d stir fry in front of the patrons. When Naga picked out all vegetables, he’d asked if he was vegetarian. When Naga confirmed he was, the owner got fresh cooking utensils and a clean wok to avoid cross-contamination. Naga flushed a little, but also looked really pleased that someone cared that much. (And cross-contamination did make Naga sick. Spada had to be careful that things didn’t have any animal stock in them.)<br/><br/>After they ate, the stir fry owner told them to try an ice cream place across the road. They did some kind of rolled ice cream, and Naga had been fascinated watching them put the creation together. And he looked utterly in rapture when they ate the treats.<br/><br/>Turns out, in all the months Naga had been with Balance, and then the amount of time he’d been on the ship, Naga somehow missed trying ice cream. Spada had been horrified upon hearing that and was handmaking all kinds of ice creams and sorbets for Naga to try.<br/><br/>Plus his mom had sent a package with more food than usual, heavy on the things Naga really liked, such as apple pie cookies and wheat bread.<br/><br/>Moving into the same room hadn’t been hard at all. Stinger was only using about half the drawers anyways, and his room had been bigger, so they moved the chest, desk and nightstand in as well. Naga had been worried about where his wall hanging would go, but once he found a spot for that, just over his desk, he was satisfied. His areas were still neater than Stinger’s. He even picked up Stinger’s laundry or straightened his stuff without realizing that’s what he was doing.<br/><br/><em>“Naga, you just folded and put away my clothes.”<br/><br/></em><em>“I did?”<br/><br/></em>Stinger crossed the bay and helped Naga out of the chair. He didn’t really need help, but Doctor Miyuki did want him to go easy on his hip. (Naga had taken to soaking in the tub since they got back and very little convincing was needed for Stinger to join. Mostly because more than bathing went on in the tub.) Naga smiled, putting his datapad in his bag.<br/><br/>“I hope Spada has salad for lunch,” Naga said as they headed to the galley.<br/><br/>“You are the only organic weirdo that hopes for <em>vegetables</em>,” Balance teased.<br/><br/>Stinger squeezed his hand. Naga turned to him, stopping long enough to steal a kiss.<br/><br/>“Gross, keep your organic PDAs to yourselves!”<br/><br/>“Just turn off your eye sensors,” Stinger shot back.<br/><br/>“Have you seen the threshold on these doors? No, can’t do that. I might dent myself.”<br/><br/>Naga just threaded their fingers together as they continued to the galley.<br/><br/>Their fight with Jark Matter was far from over, but Stinger was happy, content.<br/><br/>“You know the Ophiuchus System mates for life, right?” Balance tossed over his shoulder. “You belong to Naga for <em>life</em>!”<br/><br/>“Stinger doesn’t belong to anyone,” Naga retorted. “And the mating for life thing is because no one has emotions. It’s not a biological imperative.”<br/><br/>Stinger shrugged. “I’m okay being with you for life.”<br/><br/>“Me too,” Naga whispered.<br/><br/>Stinger grabbed another soft kiss.<br/><br/>“What did I say about that?” Balance called.<br/><br/>Naga smiled at him. “We should get to lunch with him so he doesn’t start a rumor.”<br/><br/>“Only one?” Balance sounded offended. “I’ve started twelve just this morning!”<br/><br/>As annoying as some people around here were, they were a family. And Stinger was glad to have found them. Especially glad to be with Naga.<br/><br/>For the first time, he was looking forward to the future.<br/><br/><em>The End</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading everyone! All your comments and kudos are much appreciated - I love all my readers! You guys are the absolute best! Yay Kyuranger!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading everyone! Drop me a kudos or comment, let me know you're out there!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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